


Masterpiece

by Minimalisticmars



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Art School, Alternate Universe - College/University, Art, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Eventual Smut, M/M, Masturbation, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, cis male jamie, cis male mako
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-09-28 04:36:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10071995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minimalisticmars/pseuds/Minimalisticmars
Summary: Jamison Fawkes is a student at an art college, stuck in a class he absolutely hates. Thinking of dropping it, he gets a handsome model posing for his class and quickly develops a crush on him, thus changing his mind. Will he have the guts to approach the stranger-- even if the man in question is much older than him?





	1. Muse

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, after like 20 million nsfw one-shots, here I am again with a multi-chapter! I thought that since [Why Him?](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8811988/chapters/20204191) was received pretty well, I'd do another multi-chapter AU fic. This one is based on personal experiences (no, not meeting handsome naked models, but as an art student, I figured this was going to happen sooner or later lmao). I read other art college AU fics and loved them all, so here I am contributing. Hope y'all enjoy!

This was Jamie’s least favorite class in his entire life. There were some redundant classes he had to take back in high school, and he didn’t think college would ever be like that, yet here he was. His only morning class that started at the wonderful hour of 8:30AM, and it was the class he hated the most as well. 

Why didn’t he just drop it, he wondered blearily as he shuffled through the narrow hall down to the door to his drawing class, shouldering his huge bull-clip drawing board in his bag and trying not to knock it into the door frame as he awkwardly entered the room. A few eyes met him as he made his way to an easel, but then the students quickly ignored him and went back to their phones, waiting sleepily for the class to finally start. 

Jamie’s only friend in the class was Hana Song, a cute Korean girl only a few months younger than him, and as bubbly as she was most of the time, even her naturally peppy attitude couldn’t survive the brutality of waking up at 7AM simply just to draw nude figures. She had her hoodie over her eyes and her phone brightness turned down low, not even bothering to verbally greet her taller friend as he pulled up a stool next to her, opting to just nod at him.

He didn’t blame her. He had just fixed his board on the easel and tore out a giant piece of paper from his drawing pad when the instructor finally glided through the door and greeted the class with a cup of coffee in hand. 

“Alright, class,” the wispy man started, setting the cup on a nearby desk and dropping his bag on the chair next to it, “today we’re going to do some 5 minute gesture drawings, at least 6 before we get into the 20 minute fully-rendered ones. Remember what you’ve learned before.  _ Feel  _ the figure and its relationship to the objects surrounding it, don’t dive straight into an outline. Make it flow, capture the essence and gravity of our model today.”

Jamie barely heard him, head still foggy from his lack of sleep, hating the days he had this class. At least he had a big gap between this and his next class, so he often chose to catch up on sleep afterwards. He clipped the paper to the board and pulled out some vine charcoal, adjusting himself more comfortably on his stool. He and Hana shared exasperated glances as they readied themselves for more grueling drawing exercises so early in the morning.

Jamie didn’t notice the model that volunteered for this class today. The man was huge, in every sense of the word. He stood up from his seat in the corner of the room, immediately catching Jamie’s attention as he dropped his robe. He was extremely tall, even Jamie could tell from his distance opposite him. As he stretched and rubbed his arms, the blonde couldn’t help but notice his bulging muscles and huge gut… and huge… 

Jamie shook his head out of his reverie, face getting a bit hot as the man walked up to the platform and positioned himself accordingly, the rest of the class shuffling as they placed their charcoal sticks to their papers.

Once the man picked his pose and stood in it, huge fists planted on his hips and leg lifted slightly as he placed his foot on the wooden steps provided for modeling, the class immediately got to drawing, sounds of charcoal scratching and gliding against paper in the air. The instructor immediately got to lecturing, but Jamie wasn’t listening. He glanced around at his peers to see if anyone seemed even a bit starstruck at this model, but everyone looked as bored and sleepy as they did when he first came in.

Tentatively, he lifted his charcoal and started drawing, if only as an excuse to let his eyes roam freely, taking in the marvel that was this man who volunteered to stand for several minutes in the nude in front of college kids so early in the morning.

He was like a god, built out of a mountain. He had a heavy-set jaw, a slight underbite, thick eyebrows that hung over mismatched eyes, one blue and the other dark brown. Everything about him was perfect, from his stern, scarred face, to his broad shoulders and hairy chest, huge hamhock arms, round belly, and thick thighs. Jamie turned slightly redder in the face as he let his eyes fall on the man’s penis guiltily. _ God _ , he couldn’t help it. It was… such an impressive size. Of course, if the man had been of a slightly more normal stature, it wouldn’t have been nearly as stunning, but there it was. Uncut, a thick, veiny shaft hanging down lazily over a pair of huge round balls, it grabbed Jamie’s eyes and refused to let go. It was only when the instructor came around the row of easels to inspect his work that his charcoal started flying on the paper at an unprecedented pace.

“Come on, James, time to pick up the pace now! I know it’s early, but you’ve got to get going. Only 2 minutes on this pose left.” The instructor warned playfully, but Jamie’s teeth gritted nonetheless.

He hated this class. He wasn’t even an “artist” in the true sense, he thought. Many other people insisted that his skills as a photographer were very artistic indeed, but he was getting discouraged with every passing day. He felt better and safer behind a camera, capturing life that went on around him and showing people exactly what he saw. His camera did a better job of portraying what he envisioned, not a piece of charcoal in his hand. He was awful at drawing and painting, he knew, but tried his hardest anyways. Or, tried to. He still hated it, though. 

But today wasn’t so bad if the handsomest man he’d ever seen was up on a platform fully nude before his very eyes. He let his eyes linger on the man’s body for far longer than he needed to, trying (but failing) to accurately capture the anatomy of his body, the shapes of his muscles under his skin, the girth of that thick cock…

Jamie cursed himself in his breath for the hundredth time that minute and reminded himself not to be so damn perverted. He had just gotten down to the toned calves of the model before the instructor clapped his hands and let the man know that the 5 minutes were up.

“You okay?” Hana’s voice snapped Jamie out of his frustration.

“Huh?”

“You haven’t said a thing so far. You always talk my ear off, even this early!” She smirked, fingertips already smudged with charcoal, one earbud hanging off as she leaned away from her masterpiece of a gesture drawing and looked up at her friend. 

Jamie sighed, shrugging. “I dunno, I guess I didn’t get any sleep last night. I’m fuckin’ exhausted, Han. Ugh!” He rolled his eyes dramatically, grinning.

Hana shook her head and returned back to her drawing board when the instructor signalled that the model was ready.

Like clockwork, the class got to drawing the new pose, and Jamie was left behind. But not for his incompetencies, but his admiration. 

The model had his back to the blonde now, hunched over in a sitting position, elbow leaning on a knee and silver head bowed low.  _ Even his back is perfect,  _ Jamie mused, charcoal barely moving on the paper as he studied the muscles on the model’s huge back and butt. His ass was cute as well, not big or anything, but perfectly round and perky, which Jamie noticed with much shame. He looked around once more, checking to see if he was the  _ only one _ really admiring the model’s perfect body, hardly believing that he was the only one who could possibly be enamoured. All he saw were bobbing heads as students glanced up and down from their pages, no one staring too hard at the model without their hand raised up to calculate the distance between the model’s hand and foot. He felt like he was dreaming. 

“Alright, next pose,” the instructor motioned for the man to relax and move on. 

The model grunted in response, slowly standing up and figuring out what stance he should take up next. Jamie couldn’t-- wouldn’t-- pull his eyes away for a second. 

Once the pose was decided and settled into, the man taking a knee and leaning down to balance himself with a hand on the platform, the class resumed as usual.

“Doin’ alright, Mako?” The instructor called, smiling as he got a curt nod.

_ Mako,  _ Jamie bit his lip. That’s what the man’s name was. It’s a nice enough name, seemed to fit the man who had a scowl that could scare off demons. It was a strong name. He would have to look up the meaning of it, because he was sure there was some behind it. 

After the gesture sketches that Jamie could barely finish, they moved onto the 20 minute poses, and the instructor launched into a lecture about what he expected out of the class. Hana groaned and leaned back to peer at Jamie behind his easel.

“I hate these,” she groaned, “I’m too fast for these, I always end up having to do at least 3 to pass the time.”

“Ohh, poor Hana!” Jamie sneered mockingly, “Talented artist bored out of her mind because she’s too good for the class!”

Hana stuck out her tongue and mimed chucking her charcoal at Jamie’s face before returning back to her board once more, shoving her earbud back into her ear. 

The model took up a sitting position again, crossing his legs as he leaned back and propped his body back on his hands, head lolling to one side. Jamie thought he was the most gorgeous man in existence, and was glad he didn’t drop this class before his eyes were graced with the man’s presence. Even if he couldn’t draw for shit, this man made him want to paint and draw, stipple, crosshatch, cut and glue collages,  _ whatever.  _ He wanted the man laid out in his room with lamps hitting him from all angles as he was photographed feverishly. 

Jamie wanted Mako.

But unfortunately, break time came up more abruptly than usual. The instructor called for the model to get up and chill for a bit, and the students hopped off of their stools to stretch and stream out of the room towards the vending machines.

Hana walked over the a very distracted Jamie, nudging his shoulder when he didn’t notice her hover behind him.

“Huh,” Jamie tore his eyes away from the model throwing on his robe, and looked back at his friend, who had an eyebrow raised.

She glanced back at the model, then at Jamie. “Uh?”   


“What?” The blonde hunched his shoulders, grabbing his messenger bag as he hopped up.

“Why’re you staring at the model? He’s not even posing anymore. And you barely have anything on your page anyways,”

“Oh,  _ shut it.  _ H-he’s hard to draw. I just… I dunno… can’t do it. M’thinkin’ of droppin’ the class.” Jamie mumbled as he awkwardly shuffled out of the room, avoiding the hulking figure sitting patiently in the corner of the room with a book in his hands. 

“Whaaaat? Oh, come on, Jamie! It’s only been like… 2 months.”

“The drop deadline is comin’ up soon, y’know.” Jamie huffed. They both took their seats on tables at the end of the hallway, pulling out snacks from their bags. Hana popped the lid off of a plastic container full of fruit and offered some to Jamie as he leaned back in his chair and cracked open his can of soda with a harsh  _ hiss.  _ They ate as they talked, ignoring the other students that settled around them and chatted.

“Yeah, but if you leave, I won’t have anyone to talk to,” Hana pouted.

“Well, I ‘unno. I’m miserable in that class, outright hate it. I’m the worst in that class anyways, might as well leave.”

“No you’re not! You’re pretty good, way more than you think.”

“Fuck off, Han. You’re jus’ sayin’ that.”

He laughed as she poked him with the toe of her sneaker repeatedly, play-fighting for a few seconds before relaxing and eating. 

They were silent for a few seconds before Hana piped up. “You didn’t seem so miserable today, actually.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Jamie and he scoffed.

“Like I said,” he drawled, popping a strawberry in his mouth, “I’m  _ tired.  _ Didn’t get much sleep.”

“So you decide to stare at the model like a creep?” She smirked. 

He kicked her chair lightly, silently taking a swig out of his can.

“He seems like your type, but he’s like… 70 years old,” Hana scrunched up her nose and bit into her peanut butter crackers.

“God, no he’s not!” Jamie protested defensively, earning him a look. He calmed down a bit. “He’s not 70. Didja see his muscles? Christ, he’s got grey hair but he ain’t more than 50, I’m thinkin’.”

“Ooooh, Jamie’s got a cru-ush!” Hana sang quietly, jerking a bit as her chair got another kick. 

“Shut it. Anyways, even if I did like the guy, what am I gonna do? I’m scrawny an’ ugly, an’ I bet he’s got a wife an’ kids.”

“Hmmm, yeah. Plus, he’s way too old. Like, really  _ old,  _ but if he’s rich, I guess that’s not a problem.”

“Oh my god, Han.” Jamie rolled his eyes and they both laughed. 

Before long, break was over and the two rushed to finish their snacks, tossing empty bottles and cans before reentering their class and taking their seats again.

The model put down his book, glancing up as the instructor ushered the rest of the students in and shut the door. Everyone got settled and the man dropped his robe once more, climbing up onto the platform as if he had the whole weight on his shoulders, resuming his previous pose.

The instructor got to lecturing once more, reminding the class to “feel around the page”, whatever the hell that meant. Hana was already scribbling at her paper and Jamie just wanted to sit and stare, attempting to send telepathic signals to the instructor to  _ not  _ walk over here at this very minute.

Too late. The wispy man got closer to Jamie and the blonde was forced to do nothing but scratch helplessly at his page. Once the instructor made his way over to Jamie’s easel and peeked over, he frowned. 

“Something wrong today, Mr. Fawkes? You’re drawing less than usual.”

“U-uh, no.” Jamie started to sweat, noticing how the model glanced over curiously. He felt the man’s stare bore into his soul and angrily willed the teacher to just  _ leave already. _ He didn’t want to bring unwanted attention to himself when he needed to make himself as invisible as possible in order to admire the man from afar.

“So then what’s the problem? Let’s use the class time wisely, please.” And the instructor floated away, leaving Jamie pink-faced and angrier than usual. Even Hana glanced over and cringed, deciding not to tease her friend as she turned back around silently. 

Jamie was only undeterred for a few minutes before he took his eyes off of his easel and suddenly met with the model’s.

The blonde was shocked, and froze. They held their eye contact for a few seconds, Jamie’s heart pounding before he snapped his eyes back to his easel after some herculean effort. 

_ Holy shit _ , Jamie thought as he gnawed at his lip nervously,  _ he was staring at me. _

He decided not to stare any longer, trying desperately to seem cool as he felt the penetrating stare of the model linger before moving on. In one more brave attempt, he glanced up furtively, hoping the man wasn’t still staring. 

He wasn’t, but he had a funny look on his face, a sort of held-back grin tilted crookedly on his stern face, softening his features. 

* * *

 

Jamie attempted to finish his last piece, grateful that he could move onto the objects surrounding Mako, scribbling out the basic shapes of the vases and chairs on the platform, leaving the curtains hung on the back for last since he hated drawing drapery.

He kept checking his phone, hoping against hope that the instructor would call it a day early, watching as every minute ticked painstakingly by. The class wouldn't end for another 10 minutes but Jamie was wound up like a coil, ready to spring out of the room and out into freedom. He hated staying at his dorm, but it felt like a welcoming idea of heaven at this point. At least his roommate was often absent, so he could have the room mostly to himself to convince himself that this stupid crush of his was just that. Stupid. 

After another grueling 5 minutes, the instructor clapped his hands, thanking Mako for his time and turning back to the class.

“Homework for the week!” He announced cheerily, and the class quietly groaned. 

As he explained the assignment, Mako slowly got up once more, muscles rippling as he stepped down from the platform and walked over to his chair, tossing his robe to the side to get at his clothes. Jamie watched, enraptured by the simple task of a man dressing himself, tuning out the rest of the class as he gaped at the model.

Mako pulled on his shirt and underwear first, bending down as he got each leg into his pig-decorated boxers, pulling them up casually. He tugged on his loose-fitting jeans and buckled the belt just as Hana nudged Jamie on the shoulder once more.

“Seriously, dude, you’ve got to stop doing that,”

Jame blinked at her. “I dunno what you’re talkin’ about.”

“You’re so obvious! Like, you don’t even try to hide it. You’re such a creep!” She laughed, hitching up her bag and shifting her weight onto one leg. “You gonna come over to my dorm or…?”

Jamie huffed, unclipping his paper from his board and tucking it neatly into his drawing pad. “Nah, I think I got stuff t’do later on, so… might take a nap.”

“Okay, have fun jacking off!” Hana winked and strolled away quickly before she could get smacked by a giant drawing pad. 

In his trance, Jamie was slow to pack up before the others, and soon, the class was emptied. He panicked, noticing that only he and Mako were left, picking up his pace. He zipped up his bag after shoving his pad and board in, not even caring if the charcoal was getting smudged. He  _ could not _ be alone in the room with a guy he developed a crush on so suddenly, especially when the man in question noticed him before, and probably thought he was a damn fool.

He threw his bag over his head and shouldered his heavy board, turning around and nearly having a heart attack.

Mako was fully dressed in a handsome dark jacket and jeans, big oxfords planted stubbornly on the ground right next to the door, wristwatch glistening just under the cuff of the jacket. He was smiling placidly at Jamie, big lips tilted into a seemingly innocent grin. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to greet the instructor as he came back into the room. They made small talk while Jamie tip-toed quietly towards the door, sweating profusely. 

Mako was smiling  _ at him _ , looking  _ at him _ ,  _ smiling at him! _ The mantra pounded against the blonde’s brain like a heavy drum, in time with his throbbing heartbeat.

The huge man paused in the middle of his sentence to glance over his shoulder as Jamie attempted to glide unnoticed behind him. “Have a good day,” was all he said, deep voice thrumming through Jamie’s body like the bassline of a song, sending shivers up his spine.

“U-uhm, y-yeah… have… a nice day…” Jamie mumbled, incoherent even to himself. He slipped out the door and made a mad dash to the end of the hall where the stairwell was, practically hyperventilating. 

Mako had said “ _ have a nice day” to him. To him! To him!! _


	2. Long Black

Jamie decided not to drop that class after all.

A month passed, and many drawing classes came with it, but not much Mako. Different models came and went, doing their usual poses, the instructor lecturing as usual. There was a special day where things were shaken up, and the students were the ones to go up onto the platform to pose for the rest of the class. Jamie liked this day. He and Hana would go up and giggle like middle schoolers as they did the most bizarre poses, figuring out how crazy they could go before finding one that they couldn’t hold for 10 minutes. Jamie volunteered the most, with or without Hana, just to get out of drawing. The instructor noticed, but didn’t say much. He knew Jamie hated drawing and would gladly have him posing for the rest who didn’t. 

On the days that Mako was their model, Jamie sat as far back as he possibly could be within view of the man, admiring him as much as he did the first day, but making sure to be a lot more subtle. He was partially hidden in the shadows, away from the lamps that threw light onto Mako’s naked body, pretending to work when the instructor came around. He learned how to draw quickly so that he could have more time to stare at the model, making sure not to turn his entire head unless he was pretending to really draw Mako’s anatomy.

How lucky he was, he mused one day, to have a crush that was naked as they day he was born right in front of him. How many people got to see their crush naked? Not many. But it was futile in the end, because he knew that he would never take it to the next level, only stuck admiring from afar, and that’s it. Well, he knew he couldn’t have his cake and eat it, too. Having the beast of a man posing in all manners in front of him with not a strip of clothing on his body was good enough. It was good enough for wanking material late at night, anyways. 

Jamie hated to admit it, but when Mako was modeling, he enjoyed the class a whole lot more. Break time came up as he was in the middle of fleshing out Mako’s powerful thighs, and he found himself feeling a bit disappointed. 

“Break time, break time!” Hana sang behind him, hooking her thumbs in the straps of her overalls and gesturing at the door. 

Jamie nodded and put down his charcoal, reaching over to grab his messenger bag and allowing Hana a good view of his work. She whistled.

“Heyyyyy, lookin’ good! I told you that if you stayed, you’d get better! You just had to be patient.”

Jamie glanced back at his easel, and he had to admit that his anatomy was indeed getting better. He didn’t know if it was because he was trying hard thanks to the love he had for Mako, or if all of that hasty drawing he taught himself how to do was indeed paying off. Nonetheless, his drawings were visibly improving, and he had to a be a bit proud of himself. 

He grinned as he stood up. “Yeah, I guess. I still hate it, though. Camera’s much better.”

They headed to their usual spot at the tables in the hall and sat down, munching on snacks and scrolling through social media on their phones.

“Okay, but what about this whole thing with the guy, then? You just gonna let it go?”

Jamie almost choked on his fruit snacks. “W-what?” He sputtered, not believing that his friend (who was supposed to be the level-headed one) was egging him on. 

“You heard me. Have you even like… I dunno, talked to him? I bet if you sat near his chair on the other side, you could bring him over to talk about your drawing during break.”

“Han, you even _ listening _ to yourself? Me? Talk to  _ him? _ You said it yourself, he’s old as balls!”

“Yeah, as old as  _ his _ balls,” Hana smirked and winked teasingly. 

Jamie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m gonna let it go. He’s got nothin’ to do with me. What’re we even gonna do if I get to talk to him in the first place, huh? We got nothin’ in common, I bet.”

“Hmmm, I dunno. If he decided to sign up for this whole modeling thing, he’s probably at last a little interested in art. Show him your photos!”

“Han, fuck off. It ain’t gonna happen,” he mumbled, the memory of how Mako smiled at him and wished him a good day a month prior bubbling up uncomfortably in his mind. 

He occasionally caught Mako gazing right at him when he modeled, but he thought nothing of it. Maybe Mako was staring off into space, or just happened to be glancing at him at the time he decided to look up. But no matter how many excuses he made up for himself, he was always shaken at the slight smile on Mako’s lips every time their eyes met, how it always looked like Mako was looking right  _ at  _ him, and not through him. He shuddered and sipped out of his juice box, wishing he were as short as Hana so he could bring his knees up to his chin and put his feet on the edge of the chair. But unfortunately, he was almost as tall as Mako, usually the tallest kid in his class, grabbing everyone’s attention just by walking in. Sometimes he liked it, sometimes he didn’t. 

“Oooookay…” Hana started hesitantly, tossing a cherry into her mouth. “So, you know that an artist is visiting and hosting an event at the cafe this weekend, right? It’s during your shift, but not mine. I’m visiting and we’re going to hang out during your break.” She grinned, and Jamie was relieved at the subject change.

Him, Hana and their other good friend Lucio worked together in a cafe just a street away from their campus, having been the luckier ones to survive the sudden rush of applications during freshman year. Now, as sophomores, they still retained their job and worked cheerily together, ringing up customers, calling out orders, brewing teas and coffees, and greeting familiar faces that they knew from their colleges. Unfortunately, Hana had to change shifts due to her classes, but still visited her friends and coworkers whenever she could.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Jus’ gotta make sure the boss doesn’t roast us alive again, and we can check stuff out during break, yeah.”

“You don’t think it’ll be too busy?”

Jamie wondered a bit, knowing that things got pretty hectic whenever there were events hosted in the shop, but he could handle it. “Eh, who cares. If it gets too busy, we can convince Gran to let you help out. You  _ work  _ there, after all, just not at that time.”

“I hope she doesn’t mind paying me overtime,” Hana giggled.

This artist’s event had Jamie pretty excited. He couldn’t believe he almost forgot about it. It was an illustration event, sure, but he loved looking at other people’s illustrations. Just not doing them himself. He was sure it was going to be a great time, especially since it was a local artist and an alumni of the college. He wanted to ask her questions and sneak some coffee as he looked at all the prints on his break. 

Jamie smiled. “I’m sure she won’t. And I’m sure everything’ll be fine.”

* * *

 

Things were  _ not  _ fine. Far from it. One of the chefs chose that spectacular day to take his day off, and Lucio and Jamie were left scrambling around in the kitchen as well as brewing up the coffees and teas. The lines were getting longer as the evening went by, and several people complained that they weren’t getting their food after more than 10 minutes of waiting. The boss, an elderly lady who was strict but kind-hearted (who everyone referred to fondly as “Gran”) was on the phone in the back, trying desperately to bring in workers for an extra shift.

Hana burst through the door suddenly, shouldering past crowds of angry people and pulling off her jacket. She ducked past Jamie and Lucio who were trying desperately to do some crowd control by ringing people up as fast as they could. 

“Don’t worry, guys, two other people from my shift are coming in soon!” She called as she ducked into the kitchen and tied on her apron. 

Jamie tried to keep as calm as possible, grateful for the extra help. Hana wasn’t a professional cook, but she could handle the baking and sandwiches just as well as their chefs. Either way, extra hands in the kitchen were more than welcome.

Soon, it was only Lucio that had to duck back and forth between the counters and the kitchen, carrying plates of orders in his hands and calling out names attached to them as loudly as possible, trying to get his voice heard over the chatter of the customers filling the air. Jamie took orders and handed out change as best he could, attempting to hide his stress under a cheerful smile. He shared exasperated glances over his shoulder with Lucio whenever he passed by, and the cafe started filling up even more to the point where Gran had to also intervene, finishing up her round of phone calls and pulling on her own apron. 

After about an hour, the other two people who shared the morning shift with Hana came traipsing in, taking their places at the other registers and in the kitchen, making small talk with the other employees before getting down to business. 

Soon, the seats in the big cafe filled up, several people at the tables and booths chatting calmly as they ate and drank, typed away at their laptops and looked at the illustrations on display all around. The sun set outside, the sky darkened, and the cafe was bright and warm with bodies sitting close, the smell of coffee in the air, plates and spoons clinking, water rushing from the sinks in the kitchen as plates were washed. 

The artist hosting the event and displaying her illustrations set up her table in the back, happily selling prints and books to whoever was done with their meal and had a few more dollars in their pockets to spend. Jamie admired the illustrations, bright, colorful and professionally rendered whenever he could in between customers. Pretty soon, everyone was served and there was no one lingering at the counter, and the three friends met together off to the side.

“Phew! That was crazy as hell, you guys. But we did it!” Lucio offered his usual bright smile and gave both Hana and Jamie high fives. 

Hana wiped some sweat with her apron, fanning at her pink face. “You wouldn’t believe how _ hot _ it is back there! Ugh!” 

“Oh, we know!” Jamie and Lucio exclaimed in unison, and the friends chuckled together.

Gran came out of the swinging doors of the kitchen, patting everyone on the back for their hard work. They all thanked her as she slipped to the back, and checked the time.

“It’s almost break time! Finally…” Hana sighed, leaning on the counter. 

“Think we can go to the roof without anyone noticing?” Lucio glanced nervously at his friends.

Jamie shrugged. “I ‘unno, maybe? What if customers come in while we’re chillin’?”

Hana waved his concern away, shaking her head. “The other two are pretty much done, they’ve got all the pastries out of the oven and I’m pretty sure they can handle the register. One of them works it. They can do fine without us for a few minutes. Let’s go!”

“Yeah, we got most of the work done, anyways.” Lucio agreed, grabbing his bag from underneath the counter and headed to the back, where the stairs were. His other friends followed him, lunches (or rather, dinners) in hand, ready to welcome the cool night air. After running around like chickens in a warm cafe, they felt they deserved it.

They walked down the hall past the door to the apartment where Gran lived, climbing even more stairs up to the emergency exit, heaving the door open and stepping onto the pebble-covered roof. The moon was out and visible between dark clouds, stars twinkling like light glistening off of gems, a soft breeze blowing by in the otherwise cold night. They all took a deep breath, knowing the cold would drive them back inside if their job failed to. They sat on the edge of the raised wall, feet swinging over like they usually did, digging around in their bags for their food.

They chatted amiably, first about the event and how stressful it is, then about school.

“How’re classes where you are, Lu?” Jamie asked through a mouthful of a muffin he swiped from the cafe, crumbs spraying from his mouth.

Lucio laughed and sipped at his water before answering. “Fine, I guess. I’d rather be making mixtapes, but… y’know.”

Lucio decided to be a film major at a nearby college, having met Hana and Jamie when they all started working together at the cafe. Why, no one knew. Everyone listened to his music and learned that he was amazingly talented at playing all sorts of instruments, and always asked him why he wasn’t pursuing a career in music instead. Seemed like Lucio himself didn’t really know. 

“I don’t get it, can’t ya transfer or somethin’?”

Lucio shrugged. “Yeah, but then I’d have to leave you guys! You and Hana make me wanna stay.”

“Awww, Lu- _ cio, _ you sap!” Hana giggled.

“That’s me,” Lucio beamed, “the sappy tree frog.”

They chatted some more, glancing down past their feet to the ground several meters below, watching as ant-sized people walked by. 

“Hey, Jamie,” Hana finished up her bottle of soda and tossed the empty bottle into her bag.

“What?”

“You wanna tell Lucio about your drawing class?”

Jamie wanted to knock her off the roof, but held himself together, shooting her a glare instead.

“Oh, you didn’t drop it yet?” Lucio leaned forward to look Jamie in the eye, a habit the blonde found to be very annoying at times.

“No.” He said simply.

“Yeah, you wanna know why?” Hana looked ready to burst into laughter.

“Yeah,” Lucio furrowed his brows in confusion.

_ “No, you don't.”  _ Jamie spat, tossing Hana another glare before stuffing his trash into his paper bag and swinging his legs back over the wall to the roof. He dropped down loudly and started to make his towards the door. ‘

“Aww, Jamie! C’mon! Don’t be like that, Lu’s not gonna judge or anything!” Hana called after him, dropping down from the wall herself and chasing after her taller friend. 

Jamie swung the door open and disappeared behind it, making his way downstairs and down the hall, his other friends following hastily behind him.

They entered the cafe and hurried to the counter, throwing their trash away and putting on their aprons once more. Hana complained the whole way, and Jamie ignored her. Lucio was very confused, but decided to drop the subject once they got back to work, taking over for the other employees as they got ready behind the counters and took the orders of the customers waiting patiently.

Once they were taken care of, and Hana went back to the kitchen, Lucio leaned over to Jamie’s side to pick off where they left off.

“So, uh… you gonna tell me what Hana was talking about earlier?”

“No. Drop it, Lu, it’s stupid.” Jamie chewed on his bottom lip, refusing to look at his friend in the eyes.

“Uhm, I don’t think so, if you’re avoiding it so much.”

“Yeah, so then if I’m avoidin’ it, then you should drop it, dontcha think?” Jamie bristled.

Lucio raised his hands up in defense. “Hey, man. Not forcing you to say anything, but. You know, just curious. That’s all.”   


He was about to say something else before the bell on the door jingled cheerily, announcing the next customer to be served. Both of them returned to their registers accordingly, standing at attention. 

Time slowed down almost to a halt when Jamie saw who made their way through the door. 

Mako, with pink cheeks from the cold, ran his big fingers through his silver hair as he shut the door behind him and looked around as if he were lost. He didn’t wear a high ponytail like he did when he modeled in the morning for Jamie’s class, and the blonde felt his breath catch in his throat as he studied how the light hit those loose silky strands brushing across his face. Once Mako’s mismatched eyes landed on him, he felt his heart skip a beat, and everything around them disappeared for a moment as the huge man came lumbering right over to Jamie’s register.

“Hey,” Mako grunted, half-smiling. The cold from the night wafted off of his jacket, giving Jamie a slight chill.

“Uh, yeah. Right. I mean, uh, hi! W-welcome…” Jamie mumbled, barely unable to hear himself.

That earned him a deep, rumbling chuckle, one that made his heart start pumping. It was growing incredibly warm in the cafe now. 

“Long black, please.” Mako’s deep bassy voice vibrated through Jamie even through the noise of the crowd in the cafe, leaving him dumbfounded. It seemed it was just them two in the entire world right now, everyone evaporated out of Jamie’s peripheral vision and his sight was overtaken by Mako, just Mako.

He snapped out of his reverie, blinking stupidly. “Oh, s-sure…” He barely remembered what Mako had even told him, eyes transfixed on Mako’s thick lips and pink, broad nose.

Mako stared right back, a grin tugging on his lips as he leaned forward a bit more. “You’re that kid from that morning class I model for, right?” His voice brought Jamie right back to the present. 

“Uhm… yeah.” His hands shook as he punched in the code for a long black, realizing he hadn’t even asked what size Mako had wanted. He tore his eyes away from Mako’s face to look down and see that he had selected a small long black, and immediately cancelled it. “S-sorry… what size didja want the coffee?”

“Large.” Mako answered.

Yeah, that made sense. Jamie entered the correct size and beverage, surprised he could even do that as he felt every pulse in his body thrum through him, a bit dizzy. This couldn’t be happening, could it? He didn’t think that Mako would live around in the neighborhood, or even visit the cafe where he  _ worked!  _ He was sure he was dreaming, but the noise of the cafe had him believing otherwise.

He saw the price pop up in his view and looked down, a bit bewildered because he could barely focus on the digits to read out the price, the numbers looking like characters of another language for a second.

“That’ll be, uh… oh… right…” He announced it too late, glancing down at the dollar bills folded in Mako’s huge palm, dwarfed by the size of the man holding them.

Jamie tentatively took them, fingertips slightly brushing on warm skin, sending zaps of electricity up his spine. He counted out the cash and popped open the drawer, hastily checking the change due after punching in the amount and counting the coins he placed in his palm to hand to Mako, not meeting his eyes as he did so. He pulled the order receipt from the machine and handed it to Lucio, who had a strange expression on his face as he took it and turned to the espresso machine. Jamie plastered the best smile he could as he told his crush that his coffee would be ready momentarily. Mako grunted and turned away from the counter, walking over to where the drop off counter was off to the side, waiting patiently for his coffee. 

Jamie turned, sweaty, practically leaning on the espresso machine next to Lucio, panting.

“You okay? You seem kinda...” Lucio chuckled, pouring in a double shot of espresso into the styrofoam cup and feeling around for a large lid. 

“Fffffuucck, no, _ Lucio!!” _   Jamie hissed through his teeth, back turned to Mako so that the man wouldn’t be able to see his frantic expression.

_ “What?” _

“Fuck, now I gotta tell you, ‘cause Hana brought it up earlier. God, I’m fucked!!”

Lucio stared up, wide-eyed, but kept his mouth shut as Jamie continued.

“That guy, don’t look now, but that guy I jus’ rung up…”

“Yeah?”   


“He models for our morning class, me an’ Han, and god… fuck, he’s so gorgeous…” Jamie whined desperately, sagging a bit. “I dunno what t’do!”

Lucio gasped, a huge grin growing on his face as his eyes lit up. “Jamie!”

_ “Ssshhh, _ fuck sake, Lu! Shut it! Jus’... I dunno, I didn’t think he’d show his arse up in this cafe! God!”

“I know exactly what to do, don’t worry.” Lucio glanced around Jamie’s arm to have a peek at the man once more, and bit his lip in excitement. He pulled a marker from the side of the machine, ones they use to write the names of the orders on the cups, and asked Jamie what the man’s name was.

“Uh, ‘Mako’… wait, what’re you doin’?”

“How do you spell that? You’ll see.” Lucio wrote down an “M” as Jamie told him. 

Lucio then handed the cup and marker to him. “Write down your number. And maybe a winky face if you’re feeling flirty,” he grinned.

Jamie was mortified. “W-what? Lu, look at him, he’s probably twice my age! The hell am I gonna do if he decides to text me? He’s so old, probably has a damn flip phone…”

“Shut up and do it! Look, he’s getting impatient, he wants his coffee. Hurry up.”

With shaky hands and a dubious conscience, he scribbled down his number as best he could, making sure every number was legible before handing the marker and the cup back to Lucio.

“Whoa,” Lucio said, taking the marker but refusing the coffee, “what’re you doing?  _ You’re  _ the one who’s gonna give him the coffee, not me. It’s your number.”

Jamie almost exploded, eyes practically bulging out of his head.  _ “What?!” _

Lucio laughed. “You can do it, Jamie, I believe in you. Just hand the cup to him and smile, and say ‘have a good evening’, like you usually do, but he’ll see the number and know. Okay? Go, go!”

Jamie was turned and gently pushed toward the drop off counter, nervously and rigidly making his over to Mako who was scrolling casually on his phone. Well. Looks like he didn’t have a flip phone after all. He cleared his throat as he reached the counter, setting the cup down hesitantly, locking his eyes on Mako’s face. 

The man smiled as he tucked his phone in his pocket, taking the cup in one huge hand, seemingly not noticing the digits written on it with thick black marker.

“H-have a nice… good evening…” Jamie muttered, unable to smile as he gaped at Mako, words tumbling from his lips clumsily.

Then, as quickly as he came, Mako disappeared with coffee in hand, the only evidence of his departure was the tinkling bell above the door. 


	3. Bikes and Leather Jackets

A couple of days passed by, and the weekend came up much quicker than usual. It was a peaceful Saturday, cold winds blowing through the city as Jamie laid in his bed in his dorm, bored out of his mind. He wanted to throw on some clothes and head on over to Hana’s dorm, maybe calling up Lucio to see if he wasn’t too busy. He enjoyed the days when they would hang out together in Hana’s place, since he got along with everyone there. The roommates seemed amiable enough, as opposed to the people in his dorm. He decided against it as he stretched lazily, yawning deeply. The covers of his bed were soft and warm, lulling him back to sleep even though he had just woken up in the afternoon.

Checking his alarm clock, he decided he’d just lay in bed all day. After the hectic shift at the cafe, classes, and the nervousness wracking his brain after handing Mako the cup of coffee with his number on it, he felt exhausted. He deserved this day off, this lazy day. 

He was slowly scrolling through social media, debating whether or not he was too lazy to reach on over for his headphones, when a text made his whole phone vibrate in his hand, jolting him slightly. He saw that the text was only a phone number, someone who wasn’t in his contact list yet. Curiously, he clicked it and was taken to the messaging app.

And then he had a heart attack.

Quickly sitting up for no apparent reason other than a reaction, he stared at the phone that he held in both hands as he read the text, lips slightly parted in disbelief.

**Pretty ballsy of you to do this. I can respect that. 2:34PM**

Jamie stared and stared, goggling at the words on his screen. Several thoughts rolled around in his head, most of them being  _ it can’t be him, it can't!  _ But as if the sender was reading his mind from wherever he was, another text popped up on the app, putting the racing thoughts to rest.

**It’s Mako by the way. The naked model for your drawing class 2:35PM**

Jamie almost fainted, falling back on his pillows and letting his phone slip from his hands to his lap. He laid that way for a few seconds, listening to his pounding heart in his eardrums before picking his phone back up with shaky hands and swallowing several times. 

After mulling over several different possible responses in his brain, he decided that approaching carefully and not letting any of his emotions spill out completely would be the best route. Simple and boring is good, he silently shouted at himself, gripping his phone and letting his thumbs hover over the keyboard before typing out a response.

_ Hey! Yeah, you know me. Wild college kid n all that stuff 2:40PM _

Jamie was sure he’d wait at least several hours before getting a response, as he was accustomed to doing with basically everyone else, and put his phone down back on his lap, bulging eyes staring at the ceiling as if it was going to come crashing down on him any minute. His throbbing heartbeat pounded on his ears, though, the adrenaline of his crush-- who was several years older than him-- texting him back too much for his poor heart.

Surprisingly, he didn’t have to wait much for a response after all. The phone buzzed.

**Don’t I know it 2:42PM**

Jamie stared at the message after picking his phone back up and rolling onto his side, unsure of what exactly that meant. How was he supposed to continue the conversation? He saw the three typing dots pop up and bounce playfully, and he held his breath.

**Guess you only work the night shift, huh 2:45PM**

Huh? What did that mean? It wasn’t an innocent question, because there was a particular tone about it that had Jamie thinking that maybe Mako had visited the cafe when he wasn’t there… to look for him? The idea of a huge, disgruntled-looking man shouldering his way into the cafe and glancing around behind the counters for the tall, skinny beanpole that was Jamie had a giggle bubbling up his throat. He felt giddy, and confident all of a sudden.

_ Yeah, only night shifts. After 5 o clock. And then I close up at 10 2:46PM _

**Good to know 2:47PM**

Jamie felt the message zap up from his fingers up his spine, all the way through the tips of his hair, making his toes curl in excitement. A grin stretched his lips and he didn’t care if he looked goofy, he loved that Mako actively looked for him. That means Mako  _ liked  _ him, right? Even if they ended up as friends, he was being sought after, and he never had the privilege of experiencing that before.

Boosted with the sudden bout of confidence, he decided he’d flirt. Why not?   


_ Why, wanna take me out on a hot date? 2:50PM _

A long pause before the dots popped up, and Jamie started sweating.  _ Shit _ , he didn’t mean to be so straightforward, he thought he was only being playful, but tones are lost in text, and he quickly scrambled to fix his mistake, thumbs flying across the keyboard as fast as they could. Too late. His phone buzzed as Mako’s new text appeared, and he was almost afraid to look at it.

**Bold. Nice. Seems like you 2:51PM**

_ I only meant that as a joke, yknow. 2:51PM _

**No you didn’t 2:52PM**

Jamie swallowed hard, sweating nervously, picturing Mako pursing his nice, thick lips disapprovingly as heavy brows hung low over his mismatched eyes. He could feel Mako’s stare boring into him right now, as if he were in the same room.

How would he answer this? He didn’t know. Was Mako flirting back? He wished he could outright ask, just pour his heart out and tell the man how he felt, but social norms dictated otherwise. He didn’t like dancing around the ring, avoiding confrontation, but at the same time wanted to hide away from the rest of the world for the next year or so.

He decided to ask another question.

_ Why’d you text me? You know you coudve just ignored my # and not entertained my stupidity 2:54PM _

**Stupidity? 2:55PM**

_ Yeah, i’m just some dumb college kid 2:56PM _

**Don’t sell yourself so short 2:56PM**

Jamie was flabbergasted, jaw hung open at Mako’s kindness. He didn’t expect the man to be so nice, a man who looked like he could rip a tree off the ground from its roots with his bare hands. Mako looked like a pro wrestler, or a bodyguard, with his bulging biceps and massive hands, scowl fixed permanently on a face that has seen better days. But no matter how worn he looked, Jamie found him to be the most gorgeous man he’d seen in  _ years.  _ He couldn’t believe that such a man would ever take the time to text him and entertain his silly little schoolyard crush.

**After all, no one’s looked at me like you do in years. Figured I’d at least get to know you 2:59PM**

The phone buzzed in Jamie’s hand before he realized it, and he read the text with a dry mouth.

_ What’s that mean? 3:00PM _

Jamie knew damn well what it meant, just desperate to continue the conversation. He loved texting Mako, heart pounding with ecstasy at the fact that he had his crush’s number, and his crush had his, and they were really communicating. It was like something out of a movie that Jamie watched when he was younger, outwardly making fun of the cheesiness of them, but secretly hoping that a romance like those would happen to him some day. It wasn’t what he’d expected, but this  _ was _ his movie-romance. 

But alas, all good things come to an end.

**Break time’s over for me. Gotta get back to work. Txt ya later 3:01PM**

Jamie groaned loudly, staring at his screen desperately. It was Saturday! But then he remembered some places were open for the weekends, and sagged into his pillows even more.

_ Okay. Bye 3:01PM _

* * *

 

The next day, the clouds were rolling in, covering the sky in a bright grey and blotting out the sun. It was a restless day, and after Jamie’s texts with the love of his life (cheesy, he knew, but he really felt like he fell deep), he couldn’t sit still. He had errands to run, anyways. He woke up earlier than he normally would, jumping out of bed after he looked over the string of texts from the day before, ducking into his closet and throwing on some casual clothes. 

He hopped out of the lobby of the building where his dorm resided, pushing through the glass doors and smiling at other acquaintances from his classes. He strolled down the sidewalk, zipping up his jacket to his neck, regretting not bringing a scarf or at least some gloves. It was much colder than he anticipated, and shivered as a strong breeze ruffled his blonde hair. 

He made his way downtown, a few blocks away from the campus, to do his shopping. The cafe where he worked weren’t open on the weekends, but there were other cafes where he could sit and have a cup while mulling over the next steps of his “relationship” with Mako. He didn’t know whether or not he should text his friends about what was happening, but decided against it. What if it turned out to be nothing? Mako would find out Jamie was annoying as usual, and stop modeling at the college just to avoid him. Yep, he was sure that’s how it would play out.

After ducking into a dollar store and picking out his items, the usual toiletries, he got rung up at the front counter and exited with a bag in his hands.

He knew he had a couple more bucks to blow on some self-indulgent shopping, and decided to head down towards the train tracks, past all the eateries and boutiques, toward the thrift stores on a street whose road was in desperate need of a new pave-over. Badly. 

Telephone poles jutted towards the grey sky as if they were trying to poke at the clouds and tear them open, looming over Jamie, whose nose was starting to redden from the cold, but was cheerful nonetheless. He liked the wind in his hair. It made him feel more alive, more awake. Today was definitely a restless day.

The area was mostly an area full of factories, warehouses, auto body shops, and other mechanic’s shops sitting squarely on their places along the cracked concrete, rusty metal linings contrasting the bright, tattered strings of pennants fluttering sadly in the breeze. It all added up to a damp mood that would put anyone off, but Jamie was on top of the world. 

He passed by the rusting chain link fences of one mechanic shop, eyes scanning over the half-fixed cars sitting patiently next to the building, catching on a particularly handsome chopper parked in front of the lit windows of the shop. He stopped for a second to admire it, an entirely black custom motorcycle with what seemed like partial pieces of the skull of a boar decorating the front, holding the light on the fork. Pretty cool.

Suddenly, the lights were turned off in the building, and the door was opened, creaking loudly in the cold air. Jamie started to get a move on, not wanting to seem like a creep by lingering around too much, but was frozen when he saw the familiar silver head bow under the doorframe before straightening back up after exiting. 

It was Mako, of course, the huge man having to duck in order to get through doors. He turned around, keys jingling and lock clicking loudly, before shoving them in his pocket and making his way over to the chopper.

Thinking quick, Jamie jumped behind a mailbox nearby, peeking around to watch as Mako expertly climbed onto the big chopper from his view. The engine was started and revved, and Mako zipped up his coat after slipping a helmet on, putting on some black gloves. He revved the engine some more, loud vibrations shaking every bone in Jamie’s body much like what Mako’s voice did to him. He watched with wide eyes as the huge man swerved his chopper around the mechanic’s parking lot, driving up slowly to the road and looking both ways to make sure no cars were coming. Then, he roared away, the engine deafening until it got quieter the farther it got, and left Jamie breathless.

He slowly got up, checking around to make sure no one was around to get the impression he was stalking anyone before straightening his jacket and adjusting his messenger bag on his shoulder.

He couldn’t believe it. He had accidentally walked straight to Mako’s workplace without even knowing, witnessing Mako get on a pretty gnarly motorcycle and drive off like a warrior on a horse. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He lingered for a little while, staring up at the sign on the mechanic’s shop, memorizing how it looked and retracing his steps in his mind to make sure he knew exactly how to get here, for future reference. Mako worked just a few blocks from Jamie’s college, and for some reason, that just blew his mind. 

So it seemed that Mako did indeed live nearby. That answered all of his questions.

Finally, he got a move on, walking a bit more shakily than before, staring down at the cracks where his sneakers stepped on, mind racing 100 miles a minute. The image of Mako with his sleek coat and black gloves climbing onto that amazing chopper and riding away replayed itself several times in his head, over and over until it all became a blur and Jamie was left feeling like perhaps it didn’t happen at all, that it was a product of his imagination as a result of looking at the chopper for way too long. 

He shook his head, warding off stupid thoughts. Nope, it was all real. The nude model for his drawing class was always impeccably dressed, worked as a mechanic, and rode a black chopper. He didn’t think he could be more in love with the man after their semi-flirty texts, but he was wrong. 

He finally reached the sizable building of pretty much the only thrift store around that hasn’t gone out of business after a few years. He felt like he was walking underwater when he entered and looked around, feeling a bit hazy since his brain was still occupied with thoughts and fantasies. He wandered over to the men’s jacket section and filed through them, metal hangers clicking together, completely forgetting why he was in the store in the first place. Didn’t matter, he’d just buy whatever caught his fancy at the moment. 

He happened upon a pretty handsome leather jacket with buckles on the front and shoulders as decorations, and his mind shot off into wild fantasies once more, leaving him staring off into space as he held the jacket like he just discovered Atlantis. Fantasies of sitting behind Mako, trying to wrap his skinny arms around the man’s torso and hanging on tight as they roared down the roads, wind in their faces, feeling freer than birds. In this fantasy, he had this leather jacket on, combat boots and jeans like old fashioned bikers usually wore, grinning as he leaned his cheek on Mako’s massive back. Then, they’d stop by a diner on the side of the road and give each other bedroom eyes from across the table, and then maybe… after they were done and heading out towards the parking lot, Mako would pull him to the side… where no one would see them… and Jamie would finally get a taste of those thick lips…

He snapped himself out of his daydreams when someone nudged past him to get at the jackets. His face was hot, and he looked away, clutching the leather jacket to his chest. God, he’s so pathetic. Daydreaming about an older man like a lusty teenage girl at night. What was he thinking? He left the racks and went over to the shoe section, near the sweaters. The place was big, but Jamie had been there enough to know more or less where everything was.

He checked out the sparse selection, jacket burning in his hand as he let his eyes glide over every pair, trying desperately to distract himself from his dumb daydreams, but he couldn’t help it. Huge boots reminded him of Mako, big jeans reminded him of Mako, leather belts and dark sweaters reminded of him of Mako…

He wondered where he went. Probably not somewhere too far away, but Jamie realized then that he had no idea what Mako did in his spare time. He didn’t know the man too well. Maybe later on at night, he’d be able to have a full conversation on the phone, and vaguely thought about calling him before banishing the idea after it sent chills up his spine. Just imagining that deep, rough voice in his ear… he should stop.

He finally checked the price on the jacket and was pleased to find it was indeed very affordable. After giving it a once-over, making sure the jacket wasn’t too old or damaged, he headed all the way to the back, where the dressing rooms were. Since it was a Sunday, and still pretty early, the store wasn’t too crowded. There were only two cubbies with mirrors in them in the entire place, but neither were occupied. Lucky him.

He ducked into one, hating how his height still had him peeking over the walls of the room, making sure to hunch over so that no one would see him trying on a leather jacket. For some reason, that embarrassed him. He didn’t need to take up a dressing room for one jacket, and would rather not have anyone silently judging him for it.

Facing the mirror, he resorted to just kneeling since it reached all the way down to the floor anyways, taking off his own camo jacket and slipping the leather one on.

Damn. He didn’t look half bad. The jacket felt good, not too tight and not too loose, but still complemented his body pretty well. The shoulders were made of some stiff material, so his shoulders seemed wider, and dare he say he looked… older? He adjusted the collar, standing up to see if the jacket was too short for his torso. Nope. Perfect. 

He was amazed. Finding clothing that fit him was amazingly rare. Towering over 6 feet was not an easy life, and he often had to have his clothes altered or made for him. His bank account didn’t agree with it sometimes, but there was no other choice, lest he walked around looking like a clown.

He felt giddy again, grinning as he zipped up the jacket and shoved his hands snugly into the pockets. He kneeled down once more, striking dramatic poses and stifling giggles. The leather felt genuine, and was soft from some use, but looked otherwise pretty new. He loved it. It made him look badass, and he was sure Mako would notice him in it. With all the zippers and buckles, how could he not? It wasn’t too flashy, but classy, and comfortable. He’d take it. 

After sauntering over to the counter and getting rung up, he decided against putting it on right away, waiting for the day when Mako would model for his class again to put together an outfit.

As he exited the building, grinning, he felt a bit guilty that one man could make him shop at a thrift store pretty much just for him. But for Mako, it really was worth it. 


	4. Exhaustion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, the real smut isn't here, but I'm guessing this'll do! Glad to see people are enjoying my fic so far, thanks to all who comment and read!

Seemed Jamie’s lucky streak was going strong. His first class for Monday had been cancelled, and his roommate left early in the morning, leaving him with nothing to do until around 4PM, and no one to bother him. He found out the reason why Hana had been quiet lately, not texting or calling him like she usually did; she was away for a family emergency two cities over and wouldn’t be back for another two days. Apparently she was without much connection as well, and finally got to a cafe that had some cellular reception so she could clue Jamie in on her situation.

Lucio, being the crazy morning person he was, had morning classes every day of the week besides Friday and then the weekends, so he was surely busy now. 

Jamie laid in his bed much like he did when first texting Mako a couple of days ago, bored. Now that he didn’t have a class to go to at noon, he dozed in and out of consciousness, fully waking at around 2PM and huffing impatiently. If he were back home, he’d have his workshop to tinker around in, and plenty of nature to photograph. Here in the city, there wasn’t much he could do that wasn’t already done. 

He checked his phone for any notifications or texts, and was slightly disappointed that Mako hadn’t answered his text from the night before. He had asked what Mako’s favorite pastime was, just to start some light conversation, an easy topic. But Mako never responded, hadn’t even opened the message. He was slightly worried that maybe Mako had an accident on the road on his motorcycle, but quickly put that thought to rest. He didn’t want to picture Mako in a hospital bed, it made him too sad, his stomach too tight. 

Instead, he let his mind wander over to the fantasies he had in the thrift store, of Mako pulling his arm and ducking against the wall of the diner, passionately making out with him where no one was looking. This time, he let himself play it out, taking the fantasy a bit further, watching as his dream-self snaked his hand lower and lower down to Mako’s pants, cupping his huge bulge… squeezing just a bit.

Jamie’s own hand slid down slowly, pushing blankets off of him as he spread his legs more and more, eyes fluttering shut as he lifted his shirt with his right hand, running his fingertips over his nipples gently. Then, he shoved his left hand into his boxers, cupping his already half-hard erection, fondling it for a bit before moving down to his balls.

He sighed contentedly, as he wasn’t able to have a good wank since his roommate left for the weekend before, and Jamie’s libido was pretty high. He massaged his shaft slowly as he pictured Mako’s hot tongue poking into his mouth, teeth nipping at his bottom lip gently. He squeezed the head, cock slightly throbbing as he used both hands to slide his boxers down his hips, lifting them slightly. 

He felt sort of ashamed at thinking such dirty thoughts about a man who probably didn’t even feel the same way he did about him, but he couldn’t help it. 

He held his cock at the base, staring down at it in his left hand for a bit before pumping slowly, wondering if he was considered “big”, wondering what Mako would think of it. Did it look…  _ nice?  _ He couldn’t tell. He saw many different dicks online of course, and even in art now that he was in college, but never really thought much about his own. The only sexual experience he had was a quick and shameful one, back before he came out and was comfortable with his sexuality. 

He remembered, he was a freshman in high school and befriended a pretty handsome sophomore, an entire year older than him. He developed a slight crush, but was in denial the entire time until his friend wanted to “try something”. And before he knew it, he was pressed up against the wall of the empty locker room, getting his pants tugged down and stifling moans as best he could.

After that, it was like that sophomore and him weren’t friends anymore. Jamie considered him to be his first love for a while until recently. In hindsight, that guy was a douchebag. Oh well. He hoped Mako wasn’t like that.

He squeezed his fingers every so often, passing his thumb over his throbbing veins, massaging the tip and watching precum drip out. He stroked faster, Mako’s face popping up in his mind once more, thick lips that were fixed into a scowl automatically lifted into a smile, intense, mismatched eyes lighting up and softening once they looked at Jamie. The blonde closed his eyes once more, trying to conjure up the deep, bassy voice that belonged to Mako, trying to make it tell him dirty things, things saved only for the bedroom.

He only texted Mako a few times, but picked up his speech pattern from those messages, replaying what Mako had said to him the few times they spoke before, how he had told him “have a nice day”, and “you’re that kid from that class I model’, and things like that. He wondered if Mako would even like dirty talk, or if he was a praising kind of guy.

Jamie pictured his naked body, bulging biceps, thick, heavy cock that swung and bobbed whenever he switched up a pose, his perky ass. His stroking got faster, head tilted back and eyes shut once more, arm working determinedly.

Smooth, tan skin peppered by cute moles, broad chest with perky nipples, the adorable way his silver ponytail bobbed with his movements, his thick thighs. Jamie only gave one blowjob in his entire life but he’d love to just duck his head in between those thighs, kissing them softly before taking that big, ruddy hooded head into his mouth and lick it all over. He’d learn how to deepthroat just for that guy.

His mind stuck onto Mako’s huge cock, stroking his own harder now, picturing it in his hand, in his mouth, in his ass, just worshipping it in his mind.

He was panting now, bed slightly squeaking from his frantic pumping, precum coating his fingers and most of the tip of his cock. He had a metal prosthetic hand, which wasn’t much good for using both hands to pleasure himself, but he shoved it down from his chest anyways, fondling his balls, letting his mind wander to Mako’s.

Before long, he came, the deep voice of Mako telling him just what a  _ good slut  _ he was rumbling away in his head as spurts of thick cum splashed on his stomach and boxers, dribbling down his fingers and making a big mess. He groaned and lifted his hips again, pumping until the last waves of his orgasm faded away.

Jamie opened his eyes and panted heavily, giving the head of his cock a good squeeze before letting it go, watching it wilt on his stomach. He sat up, wiping his hands on his bedsheets before rubbing his head and yawning, slightly dizzy from the great orgasm he just experienced. He swung his leg over the edge of the bed, fastening on his prosthetic leg and mosied on over to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. 

After washing his hands and peeing, he flopped back down onto his bed and laid there for a while, knowing all this extra time and sleep would be making him lazier by the day, but not really caring much about it. He picked up his phone out of habit and almost choked when he saw that Mako had just recently responded. He didn’t hear the phone vibrate while he was masturbating. 

Quickly, he opened the message and read it, relieved that his frightening thoughts of Mako in a hospital were fictitious. 

**Nothing much, nothing crazy like you probably do 2:20PM**

_ You don’t know what I like. What if I like knitting? haha 2:31PM _

**No clubs, huh 2:32PM**

_ Nah. Im a loser, no one would take me to one 2:32PM _

**Good, I hate clubs 2:33PM**

Jamie laughed and made a mental note. So it seemed his crush was a homebody and didn’t like crowds or parties. Cool.

_ Sooo… you didn’t really answer my question 2:33PM _

**I dunno what you want to hear 2:33PM**

_ I want to hear what you genuinely like 2:34PM _

**Working on motorcycles and sleeping 2:34PM**

_ Oh, so you’re a mechanic? 2:34PM _

Jamie had to fake not knowing for fear of making Mako think he was stalking him. That would not be good, better to play dumb than to make a bad impression.

**Yep 2:34PM**

_ Sweet. I tinker with stuff muself, but not bikes. I like em tho 2:34PM _

**I mess with cars too. Got any favorite bikes? 2:35PM**

Jamie couldn’t believe they were just having such a casual conversation now, so natural and easy. Nothing seemed forced, and Mako seemed to be replying in earnest now. Maybe he wasn’t busy now, or had less work to do. He worked mondays, right? Either way, he didn’t know how to respond now, seemingly hitting a wall after gliding so smoothly so far. He didn’t have a favorite bike, just admired them from afar. He wasn’t too interested in them to do any research, and quickly googled up some different styles of bikes before remembering what Mako’s was called.

_ Not really. 60’s choppers look pretty nice tho 2:37PM _

**Good taste. Got one myself 2:38PM**

_ Really? Awesome, I’d love to see it 2:38PM _

Jamie was grateful they were texting, because if they were having a conversation in real life, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to pull this off so well.

**Guess that hot date was a serious thing? 2:39PM**

What was he talking abou-- oh. Right. Jamie’s stupid emboldened flirt. 

_ Not if you don’t want to ofc hahah 2:39PM _

**I think it’d be okay if we met up to eat somewhere 2:40PM**

Jamie’s heart exploded, palms sweating suddenly, unable to register Mako’s text for a few seconds before swallowing hard and feeling dirty all of a sudden for just jerking off to his body and his voice. Here was a kind, gentle man asking him out on an innocent date, and he was already having raunchy fantasies about him. God!

_ You’re not joking? 2:41PM _

**No. I think it’s time for us to properly meet 2:41PM**

**If you want to. I’m sure sitting with an old man doesn’t sound too fun 2:41PM**

_ No, that sounds fine! When’s a good time for you? 2:41PM _

**I was going to ask you 2:42PM**

_ I don’t work weekends 2:42PM _

**Sunday afternoon? 2:43PM**

With sweaty hands and trembling fingers, he swallowed hard once more and typed out his answer, incredulous that all of this was actually happening, that he was securing a date with his crush, that he was finally going to be able to sit down and have face-to-face conversations with him.

_ Yep. Around 3? 2:44PM _

**Sounds good. See ya then 2:44PM**

And with that, Jamie clicked off his phone, his head falling back on his pillows, sighing wistfully before burying his face in them and screaming as loud as he could.

* * *

 

The next day, Jamie woke up much, much earlier than he needed to. By 6AM, he was already in the bathroom practically spinning in circles over what he was going to say to Hana once he got to his drawing class. So much had happened over the weekend, it was unreal! He sat on the lid of the toilet, figuring that having his crisis in the bathroom was way better than tossing and turning in his bed, disturbing his already asocial roommate who he was 95% sure hated him already anyways.

He got up and leaned down on the sink, staring at his face in the slightly dirty mirror, stooping over to be able to get his visage in the mirror. 

He stared grumpily at his pale face and dark circles under his eyes, frowning. Then, he smiled, eyebrows raised, trying to look a little more friendly. It didn’t help. He returned to frowning. He didn’t understand people when they told him he was handsome. But then again, he was so tall, maybe people just assumed he was handsome because they couldn’t even see his face from all the way down there. He hated every one of his facial features, from his splotchy freckles that were just a  _ little  _ too dark on his nearly paper-white skin, to his big, pointy nose, to his thick eyebrows. Even his teeth were slightly crooked, canines too pointy. People constantly teased him, telling him he looked like a rat, an elf, or a goblin. He grew to hate his face, among other things. 

Then, as usual, his mind wandered over to Mako. Mako had seen his face a lot, and obviously didn’t hate it  _ too  _ much, if he was being asked out on a date. Was it a date? Jamie figured calling it that was easier anyways. 

The more he stared at his face, the more nervous he grew. The lights in the drawing class were always dim to let the lamps throw dark shadows on the models for drawing purposes, and the cafe had some pretty dim lights, too. He started sweating. What if Mako just  _ thought _ he looked good because he saw him in certain lighting? Maybe he didn’t look so “ratty” in dim, warm lighting. And come to think of it, he didn’t really smile much around Mako, either. What if the man told a joke and he started to laugh, and Mako would take one good look at his crooked teeth, crooked smile, crooked  _ everything _ and decide to abandon him right there?

He groaned softly, clenching his messy hair in fists, running his hands over his face. God, he was overthinking again, he really needed to calm down! He checked the time on his phone and sighed loudly, jumping when he heard a knock on the door. Slowly, he tucked his phone in the waistband of his boxers and unlocked the door, opening it. Looking down, his eyes fell on the mussed-up hair and sleepy expression of his roommate. They looked at each other tiredly for a bit before Jamie reacted.

“S-sorry, mate, I just… didn’t mean to hog up the bathroom, haha!” Jamie laughed weakly, feeling the entire weight of his exhaustion right then and there.

“I don’t need to use it,” his roommate replied, “just checking to see if you’re okay.”

Jamie gaped dumbly. “Huh?”

“You okay?” The boy took a step back, squinting up at the light from the bathroom hitting his eyes.

“Y-yeah. Jus’... thinkin’.”

“In the  _ bathroom?” _

“Didn’t want to disturb ya.”

His roommate-- whose name he could not remember for the life of him-- stared up at him, locks of hair in his eyes trembling with every blink, before shrugging and returning back to bed.

Jamie was left at the doorway of their bathroom, confused. That was… a strange interaction. He and that guy never talked, only exchanging a few words about the light in the room, nothing more. They were nothing alike, the boy being pretty short (maybe 5’5”?), tan, and having eyes as dark as his hair. He was  _ very  _ artsy, his side of the room being covered with his own art, or prints of other artists, all impressive in every way, whereas Jamie kept metal scrap under his bed and only had some tiny photos on his wall. They had nothing in common, and as many times as Jamie tried to make friendly conversation, they never got anywhere past the “polite stranger” phase. He was pretty sure that if a serial killer came into the room, his roommate would just let him die without a word.

So, Jamie concluded the boy hated him and never tried to talk to him again. They were alone in their room, together. It stopped bothering Jamie a while ago. So he was naturally surprised when his asocial roommate got up at around the ass-crack of dawn to check in on him.

Jamie returned to the bathroom, quietly closing and locking the door once more. He figured maybe he was just disturbing his roommate. That’s why he got up. Maybe “Are you okay?” really meant “Shut up, I’m trying to sleep” in his language. That must be it.

Jamie sat on the floor, back to the wall across from the sink and toilet, head lolling to the side in exhaustion. He tossed and turned all night, not getting much sleep, and pacing around at 6AM was not helping. Only one more hour, and he could start getting ready…

Just one more hour…

_ One more hour… and he could pull on his clothes, check his hair in the bathroom mirror. Then, he’d exit the lobby of the housing apartment complex, heading across the street to his drawing class. He’d take the elevator, because his damn drawing board was too heavy to carry up three flights of stairs. And then, he’d walk down the hallway, sneakers patting on the floor as he walked towards his class... _

_ And then… he’d see Hana, bright smiling face… for some strange reason. He’d greet her, and then he’d say… he’d say-- _

Loud banging jolted Jamie awake, making his rub his eyes groggily and squint at the light up ahead. Where was he? He realized with a start that he was still sitting on the bathroom floor of his dorm, and the banging was one of his dormmates knocking on the door. He scrambled to stand up, skin painfully cold from the tiled floor, shakily unlocking the door. 

It was his roommate again, this time completely dressed and hair looking a lot less disheveled than when it did… 

When… an hour ago?

“Hey, man, I know you probably got some issues to deal with, but... weren’t you supposed to be at your class an hour ago?” The roommate swiped at his bangs and raised a brow.

Jamie goggled at him like he just told him his mother died.

_ “What?!”  _

“Yeah, it’s almost 9:30.”

“Fuck!!”

Jamie smiled apologetically as he slipped past his roommate toward their room, diving into his closet. He must have dozed off after his sleep deprivation caught up to him, his dreams tricking him into a false sense of security by projecting his usual routine of waking up and heading to class. He frantically pulled on a shirt after throwing off his other one, slipping his leg into his jeans and falling onto his bed as he hopped on one foot and lost his balance. 

He ducked under his bed to pull on some combat boots, not caring if he wore this kind of outfit before. Adrenaline was pumping through him now, and there was a faint buzzing in his ear as he dashed around his room to grab his necessary art tools before pulling on his jacket and stuffing his keys and phone into the pockets. He didn’t care that his stomach was complaining from the lack of food in his system. 

He dashed past the bathroom that his roommate was surely in, slamming the door behind him as he headed towards the stairwell of the building. No time to wait for elevators, he had to  _ go! _

He made a mad dash across the street to the main building on campus, frantically climbing the stairs as fast as he could, panting by the time he got to the second staircase. He realized vaguely upon reaching his floor and hurrying towards  his classroom, that he forgot to brush his teeth, or wash his face, or comb his hair. Who cares! He couldn’t miss another class, or else he’d land on academic warnings, which his parents would not be very happy about.

Once he opened the door, his attempts at steadying his heavy breathing were stopped once he realized who was modeling, eyes going saucer-round as they landed on the huge bulk that was Mako who reclined on the floor casually, looking like he was going to fall asleep. Everyone, including him, raised their heads and met Jamie with their eyes when the door knob rattled and the door was swung open.

The blonde stood there stupidly, feet planted on the ground as he looked around as if he ended up in another dimension, looking quite disheveled with his hair sticking out in weird places, heavy bags under his eyes, mouth hung open as his eyes darted everywhere. 

“Mr. Fawkes!” The instructor clapped his hands in glee, smiling warmly. “Glad you could finally join us today. Never saw you in such a rush to get here before!”

“I,” Jamie panted, “I, huh, yeah, I uh, I ran t’get, uh, all the way ov’r here, huh!” He gasped for air in between words and out of the corner of his eye, he saw some students grinning and exchanging glances. 

“I can see that!” The instructor raised a brow. “Doesn’t matter, better late than never. Have a seat.”

Jamie bowed his head in shame, only raising his eyes to scan for an empty seat, finding all of the ones near Hana completely occupied. He was kicked to the very back corner of the room, but right now, he really didn’t mind it. Hana gave him a concerned look as he walked past her to the only empty easel in the room. Everyone went back to work, and the instructor announced there were only 2 minutes left on the pose before break time. The room was eerily quiet as everyone drew, the only sounds in the room were the quiet sounds of charcoal on paper and the steady humming of the heater. Every noise Jamie made as he pulled out his board and ripped out a piece of paper felt as loud as explosions to him, and his face was red not only from the exertion of running to class, but also of crippling self-consciousness in that moment.

Unbelievable. Mako was their model for  _ today, _ of all days. He probably thought Jamie was a damn fool, probably laughing at him in his head right now. But as Jamie fixed the paper on the board and pulled out his bag of charcoals, he glanced up at the man and found him in the exact same position, with the exact same expression. 

Wow, he was ignoring him, Jamie’s mind immediately thought. That was probably even worse. 

Dutifully, Jamie started scribbling on the paper, getting as much down as he could in the little time he had before break time. Which was not much, as the instructor immediately called for break as soon as Jamie was finished drawing Mako’s head. He remembered suddenly, his leather jacket that still hung in his closet, and felt even worse knowing that he forgot to ask when Mako was volunteering next so he could dress up and impress him, which was why he was caught so off-guard. Nothing was going according to plan…

He sat sadly in his corner before Hana came over and lightly punched him in the arm, pulling him out of his misery. He straightened up and cracked the best smile he could.

“Hey, Han!”

“You okay?”

“Y-yeah. Forgot t’set the alarm, s’all.”

Hana gave him an inquisitive look before shrugging and motioning towards the door. Jamie nodded and got up, casting a furtive glance at Mako, who was busy tying up the belt on his robe, back facing him. He sighed and followed his friend out of the door, knowing he just pretty much embarrassed himself not only in front of his class, but also in front of his crush.

Once they sat down at their usual spot, Hana pulled out her snacks like usual and Jamie’s stomach just grumbled. He sighed softly, already regretting not at least swiping something from his stash before rushing out. He kicked the floor with his heel softly, slipping down in his chair and putting his hands in his jean pockets.

“Let me guess, you stayed up too late and overslept, so you didn’t bring anything to eat,” Hana gave her friend a look, already holding out two sandwich crackers to offer to him.

Jamie took them, grateful. “Yeah… sorry.”   


_ "Sorry?  _ Wow, Jamie, something’s really gotten into you lately.”

“Whaddya mean? I’m just tired, man…” Jamie closed his eyes and leaned his head on the back of the chair, too tired to care that people had to step over his long legs to get down the hallway.

“When I got back here, my phone wasn’t blowing up with texts from you. And Lucio told me he hasn’t heard from you at all since Friday. You’re never this quiet. What’s wrong?”

Jamie groaned as he chewed on the crackers, swallowing and averting his eyes as he slipped the other one into his mouth.

_ “Jamie!” _ Hana groaned, giving her friend light kicks on his legs. “Talk! Or else I won’t feed you anymore.”

“Uuuuggh,” Jamie moaned, closing his eyes. His mouth was dry and his whole body hurt since the adrenaline that got him to class had wore off. All that was left were the aching muscles of his legs and slightly burning lungs. He even started to get a migraine, a throbbing pain that was growing more and more uncomfortable in his brain. He really didn’t want to do this right now, but knowing how stubborn Hana was, he also knew she wouldn’t let it go any time soon. 

He turned his head to look at her. His half-lidded eyes and pale face would make him look like a corpse slumped in a chair if it weren’t for his flushed cheeks.

“Listen… I’m dead tired right now, ‘kay? I’ll tell ya… after class. I’m gonna go to your dorm and tell you everything. On one condition.”

Hana sighed. “What?”

“You let me eat something and take a nap. Then, I’ll tell ya.”

“Jamie…”

“Please?”

Hana almost cringed at the crack in Jamie’s voice, the desperate tone in his speech. He was clearly disheveled, and if he didn’t start eating right, he’d probably faint sometime today like he did before. She looked down at her poor friend, who was clearly exhausted and clearly in need, and finally made up her mind.

“Fine.”


	5. Scorching Heat

After waking up from his supposedly refreshing 1 hour nap (it wasn’t, he felt even worse than before and didn’t want to go to his next class), Jamie sipped at his water bottle, blanket wrapped around his shoulders as he sat on Hana’s bed. She was at her desk next to it, mouse clicking rapidly as she played whatever video game she was preoccupied with nowadays, nothing but the sound of that and the wind blowing against the window. It was quiet in the room, Jamie just sitting hunched over looking like a homeless person with a blanket on his shoulders, Hana concentrating as hard as she could on her computer screen, headphones on her head. Once she was done with her round, she exited out of the game and pulled her headphones off, giving Jamie a concerned look.

“You good now? You’ve got class in about an hour, though... so if you have to tell me something, you’d better be quick.”

“I don’t really think I wanna go to class,” Jamie grunted, voice laden with sleep. He blinked groggily, migraine steadily fading away since he relaxed after a good meal (of a breakfast sandwich Hana bought for him from a nearby cafe and a some cornbread), but still feeling pretty awful. 

Hana leaned her face on her hand before getting up and hopping into bed with Jamie.

“But… you’re right,” Jamie sighed deeply “Okay. I didn’t tell anyone of this ‘cause I didn’t really think it’d go anywhere until recently. I’m textin’ Mako now.”

Hana’s eyes went wide, but said nothing, letting Jamie continue.

“Back at that event in the cafe, he came in. You were back in the kitchen, but Lu was with me at th’ counter. And he came in! My god, I thought I was like hallucinatin’ or somethin’. Didja know he lives here? I mean,  _ around  _ here, not in this college, obviously. Anyways, he comes in, an’ I told Lu I had a crush on him, and naturally, like the confident flirt he is, he made me write my number on Mako’s coffee cup!” Jamie paused to take a deep breath before continuing, “An’ I thought, ‘oh, this bloke ain’t gonna text me, this is stupid’ but on Saturday he  _ texts me! _ I thought I was gonna lose my mind. We get to havin’ a quick conversation before he had to go back to work. Then, the next day, while I was runnin’ errands, I passed by his work by accident, an’ I saw him on his motorcycle! Can ya believe it! He’s got a bike!”

Hana raised her hands, shaking her head, “Whoa, wait. What does that have to do with anything?”

Jamie shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Whatever, anyways, I texted him after that again. Last night. Hana…’ he looked her right in the eyes and she stared back. “I’m goin’ on a date with him.”

Hana stared at him some more, thinking Jamie was just playing a prank on her, but then she remembered how disheveled and frantic he looked this morning in their class, and put two and two together immediately. Her eyes grew wide as soon as she realized it, mouth opening wide into a round ‘O’ before clasping her hands on them as she muffled a screech.

“You did it!!” She squeaked instead, bouncing on the mattress a bit.

Jamie didn’t look so happy. “No, no… Han, this ain’t a good thing.”

“Huh? Jamie, this is amazing!! Oh, thank god. I mean, thank  _ Lucio _ , ‘cause he’s pretty much the one who helped you score your date. Holy shit! Oh my god!”

“Han! Listen to me, this date can’t happen.”

_ “Why?” _

“Because! What if everything goes to shit, huh? What if--”

“Ohhh, no no no no nononononono, you’re not going to overthink this and ruin everything like you  _ usually do,”  _ she shouted the last part, making Jamie flinch. She stuck a finger in his direction as she continued, “You are  _ going  _ on that date, because he makes you happy, and he likes you! You think I don’t notice him smiling at you in class? And on Friday, in the morning? I forgot to tell you because obviously I didn’t really have wifi, but he was  _ looking _ for you. In the cafe. He asked for you. Okay? That’s great, I wish I were you! I wish someone I liked, liked me back! You’re not going to ruin this because you overthink stuff  _ as usual.” _ She finished with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting in defiance. 

They sat in silence for a few seconds, Hana glaring up at Jamie and Jamie just staring down at his smaller friend in awe. He never elicited that kind of reaction out of her, and he never even thought she was  _ that _ invested in his life. Sure, she was one of his best friends, but she was always casual about things, often opting to make smart comments or tease. He broke into a grin.

“Wow. Han. Geez!”

“What? You’re 21 now and you haven’t dated anyone, like  _ ever, _ and now that this golden opportunity has risen, I’m not going to watch you miss it. No way. You’re my best friend, Jamie, and best friends help best friends get laid.”

They broke out into laughter, and Jamie pulled her in for a quick hug, knowing that if anyone in the world could talk him out of his dark and frantic thoughts, it was Hana. He pulled back and sighed, scratching his head for a while before frowning. 

“Oh, what now?” Hana grumbled, reaching up to fix his messy hair. 

“I gotta tell Lu ‘bout all of this. And then… I gotta get ready for the date. Ugh.”

“When is it?”

“Sunday.”

“You’ve got  _ plenty  _ of time. Plenty. We’ll help you!”   


“With what? The only way you’d help me is if you go  _ for  _ me, heh heh.”

“Don’t be a dope. We’ll help you get dressed for it and stuff. We can tell you all about our first dates, maybe the stories will help you feel better.”

Right. Hana and Lucio, unlike Jamie, were pretty popular in their schools (and still kind of are in college), and were sought after more than he was. They’d have plenty of tales to tell. Maybe that would indeed help him feel better. 

“Man, Hana… what would I do without ya?” He grinned, wincing a bit as Hana’s fingernail caught on a knot.

“Nothing, apparently. You’d overthink everything.” 

Jamie slapped her arm playfully and they both giggled. 

He was still a bit hesitant at going on the date, nerves still refusing to settle in his stomach. But he knew that if he let Hana and Lucio do the planning and helping, he’d probably be fine. After all, it was true that Lucio’s bold idea to write Jamie’s number on Mako’s coffee cup had started all of this in the first place, and Jamie would be nowhere near snagging a date like this if it weren’t for him. Sure, Jamie was the one who texted him afterwards, and surprisingly said all the right things to get him a date, but without a start, there would be no going.

He sighed and took another swig from his water bottle, hoping everything would be alright. He figured the more he let his best friends do the planning, and the less his jittery self was able to get in the way, the better things would turn out. He slightly wished that they could control his movements and speech while we was on the date, he was  _ that _ scared of messing things up, but he banished that thought. No way, he would be able to do this himself! After all, Mako liked  _ Jamie _ , not Hana or Lucio. And it would be pretty dishonest to just let his friends pilot him and his actions entirely. No... he’d get through it and he’d try his hardest to enamour Mako. If he could earn a date through his own texts, he’d be able to do this all by  _ himself. _

He sat resolutely as Hana hopped off her bed and went back to her desk, deciding that if Mako took one look at him and didn’t like what he saw, then it was his loss. But the confident thought wavered a bit as he remembered how Mako seemed to be ignoring him during class today. He got no stares, no tilted grins anymore. He put his face in his hands for a bit before checking the time on his phone and deciding it was a good time to start getting ready to head to class. 

He tried to put the thoughts in the back of his head for now. He figured he’d burn that bridge when he got to it. 

* * *

 

Jamie finally got to work later that evening after his last class was let out, still feeling a bit tired, but also buzzing with excitement at having to tell Lucio about his current situation. He texted Hana for some words of encouragement, hoping his good friend Lu would know just what to do about all of this. Jamie didn’t doubt him, but he wanted everything to go smoothly before his date on Sunday.

He entered the cafe and immediately went to the back to put his bag down and throw on his apron. He noticed that the place was pretty empty, the large afternoon lunch rush just finishing up before he arrived, the tables in need of a good wiping down. He waved a quick hello to the employees and nearly crashed into Lucio as they both walked through the swinging doors.

“Whoa, hey! You’re alive! I thought you  _ died _ or something, man!” Lucio grinned wide, clapping Jamie on the arm. His eyes didn’t seem to smile, though. 

“Yeah, sorry. Missed work last time, ‘cause I was… sick.” Jamie bit his lip, knowing Lucio would absolutely not buy that in a million years.

And Lucio did indeed frown, but didn’t question further. “Okay, well… gotta get to my apron before Gran comes around and starts yelling at me again, heh.”

“Right,” Jamie stepped to the side so Lu could slip past him, but called out to him before he shut the door, “uh, Lu? Can I talk to ya later on… maybe durin’ break?”

Lucio didn’t turn around as he answered, busying himself with his bags and his jacket. “Yeah, sure.” Lucio was acting a bit… strange. But Jamie was too tired to ask about it. Probably not a big deal anyways.

Jamie sighed and turned around, blinking several times to ward away the sleepiness weighing heavily on his eyes. Seems the nap he took earlier wasn’t enough, and he knew that the first thing he was going to do later on after his shift ended was to flop down onto his bed and conk out. 

He exited the swinging gate from the counter and started bussing the tables, collecting napkins and torn sugar packets, wiping away crumbs, spilled coffee and grains of sugar. It was a mindless chore, only needing eyes for spotting garbage but not much else. His exhausted brain went on autopilot, which wasn’t a surprise to him since he barely got 3 hours of sleep in total today. He supposed it was Karma or some other unfair deity that was punishing him for over-indulging in the sleep he got to have earlier. He robotically picked up empty straw coverings from the floor and tossed them in nearby trash cans, like a machine, eyes unseeing. He was too tired to even think, meandering between what little customers were in the cafe, heading to the back again to get the broom before the evening influx of people came as usual.

And come they did. By 6PM, when the sun was halfway into dunking itself behind the horizon, groups of college kids and old people alike trampled in, chatting loudly and taking their seats first before going up to ordering so their spots wouldn’t be snatched away from them.

Lucio was done cleaning the kitchen and helping the cooks unpack the ground coffee from the delivery they got earlier, taking his gloves off and tugging his ponytail a bit loose as he joined Jamie at the front counter to ring up the customers.

He glanced impatiently over at his friend, who looked like his soul escaped his body and the tall man next to him was just the shell. Jamie looked dead in every sense of the word, not even meeting the eyes of the customers who told him their orders as he automatically punched them in and handed their change when needed, like a machine. Lucio furrowed his brow before turning his attention back to the person in front of him, offering them his brightest smile as he dutifully took their order. 

“Geez, somethin’ wrong with that guy over there?” An old man came up and snickered to Lucio, gesturing at Jamie, who stooped over his register and looked ready to collapse any minute now. 

Lucio tossed another glance at his friend before looking back at the old man. “Uh, I dunno… maybe today’s an off day or something…” He mumbled, unsure. What  _ was _ up with Jamie today? He mentioned he wanted to talk during break before, but he didn’t know that what was eating at him was so important. He thought  _ he  _ was having an off day, Jamie looked like his soul was snatched from him through his nose. 

Lucio took orders after orders until both of them were done with their batch of customers, everyone seated comfortably while keeping an ear out for their name.

After Lu took the orders to the kitchen and handed them to the cooks, he went back out to the counter, where Jamie still stood by the register even though there was no one in front of it. It took Lu giving him a gentle punch on the arm to make him come back to his senses. 

Jamie breathed in and came to life as if he just woke up and blinked wearily down at his friend. “Hmmm? Break time yet?”

“No… just that you’re acting so strange nowadays, even the customers are noticing it! Jamie, somethin’s wrong and you’re not telling me anything.”

Jamie shrugged, running his flesh hand through his hair and exhaling. “Yeah, I mean, ain’t nothin’ really wrong ‘cept my stupid brain overthinkin’ things and not lettin’ me sleep, s’all.”

“Overthinking what?” Lucio leaned on the counter next to Jamie and gave him a concerned look.

“I guess Hana hasn’t texted ya yet, huh.”

Lucio shook his head, chewing on his cheek.

“Well, long story short… I’m goin’ on a date with Mako. Y’know… that guy with the coffee cup you made me write my number down on.”

Lucio jumped suddenly as if prodded by a sharp object and grabbed Jamie’s hands in both of his, grinning wildly. “Holy shit!” He lowered his voice and glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. “Holy shit, Jamie! It worked?!”

Jamie nodded solemnly and bit back a smile as Lucio hopped excitedly. Just like a little frog.

“So?! When’s the date? Oh my god, tell me it didn’t happen. If it did…” He gave Jamie a stern look but then returned back to his cheery smile, “if it did, I’m gonna  _ kill _ you!”

Jamie chuckled tiredly, letting go of Lu’s hands. “Nah, it’s comin’ up this Sunday. Er,  _ next _ Sunday. I dunno, time’s bullshit, y’know what I mean... but…”

“...But…?”

“But, I need you and Hana’s help for it. God, jus’ thinkin’ about it makes me wanna  _ throw up. _ I mean, in a good way? Oh, fuck,” Jamie groaned, rubbing his face, “I don’t fuckin’ know, Lu, I think I’m screwed!”

“No you’re not, you got this, man! I believe in you, look at you! Tall, handsome, and funny too. There’s no way this guy is gonna regret it. He asked you out, right? That’s a better start than  _ my  _ first date!” Lucio laughed, shoulders shaking, dimples pronounced in his cheeks. 

He was super handsome and an all-around positive guy, which Jamie was grateful of right now. Jamie had a crush on him before, too, before quickly accepting the fact that a guy like him would  _ never _ get with someone like Lucio, and just resorting to being his friend. It was nicer this way, anyways. Like this, he could always go to Lucio for a confidence boost or some words of encouragement. Where Hana was realistic and gave Jamie the tough love that he needed to get him back on track, Lucio radiated positive vibes and lifted Jamie’s heart from the darkest of places. He didn’t know what he would be doing right now without either of them. 

He gave Lucio a grateful smile, sighing. “Well, hopefully things go right. But... I dunno what t’do! I never been on a date before, I never been with anyone. What do I  _ do?” _

Lucio blinked at him, eyebrows raised. “Oh, I didn’t know you never dated. Coulda told me that earlier! Well, you have plenty of time to psyche yourself up before the big day, okay?” He placed a hand on Jamie’s back and escorted him to the back room, past the kitchen. They talked as they walked.

“Listen,” Lucio started, “I know it’s super cliche to say this… but you  _ really  _ have to be yourself on the first day. You have to! Otherwise, if you’re all fake from day one, that guy is gonna expect that from you forever. More or less. Just relax, be you, and get lots of sleep, because if you show up to that date looking anything like  _ this,”  _ Lucio waved dramatically in Jamie’s direction, “he’s gonna head for the hills after he sees you.”

Jamie laughed, sitting down on the only chair available in the back, leaning on the table. “You’re right, I probably look like a bloody mess.”   


“Yeah, your shirt’s on backwards,” Lucio pointed out with a raised brow.

The blonde made a noise before pulling off his shirt and groaning, the coolness of the room hitting his warm skin. Lucio was completely silent as he rearranged his shirt appropriately and slipped it back over his head, ruffling his hair as the tugged the hem down past his belly button.

“Ugh, thanks. Can't believe Hana didn’t tell me before…”   


“I mean,” Lucio shrugged and bit his lip, “I just caught it. Thought I’d tell you before the day ends.”

“We should head back out there, maybe someone’s waitin’ out there, impatient.”

“You’re right. Jamie, you have to text me about this stuff more often. I’d totally be up to help you through this, even just a little bit. First dates are tough, but I know you can pull through.”   


“I heard about Hana’s first date, and it was a bloody  _ disaster.  _ Made me feel a bit better… maybe you could tell me ‘bout yours!”

Jamie got up and they both headed out of the back room, out of the swinging doors into the cafe.

“Oh, absolutely, I have some hilarious stories!” Lucio grinned, and lo and behold, there were indeed some customers standing idly about on their phones as they waited for service.

Jamie and Lucio got right to work.

* * *

 

Break time, and Jamie returned back to being his exhausted self. He used Lucio’s short stature to lean on like a table, drooping all over him dramatically as he complained about how little sleep he got and how little he ate. Gran popped out every once in a while to chuckle and shake her head at him, making sure he was indeed alright (and not too “sick” to handle the food, since he called in sick last time). 

They took care of some other customers, making sure another employee was at the ready to handle the register as they grabbed their bags and headed to the back to have their lunch break. Usually when the weather was colder, as it was tonight, they would just chill in the back and watch the cooks glide about with slices of cheese or bread in hand, placing the plate of food on the drop-off shelf for the other employees to grab and serve.

Jamie wasn’t as close to Lucio as he was to Hana, but still enjoyed his company nonetheless. They sat by themselves in the back, waiting for the cooks and employees to duck in and grab their snacks, too, chewing on theirs quietly.

After a few minutes, Lucio downed his water bottle and tossed it in the only trash can in the room. “So, you know anything about this guy? He seemed pretty _ old _ from what I saw last week.”

Jamie swiped crumbs off his shirt absentmindedly, eyes half-lidded. “Uh…” He yawned and stretched out his legs. “Dunno, but regardless of his age… he’s pretty nice. We text, thanks to you. And uh… from what I gathered, he’s got a motorcycle, he’s a mechanic, an’ he doesn’t like parties or clubs.”

“Well, that’s good. I guess you probably don’t know more because he’s not used to talking about himself like that, then. Hopefully he’s not a serial killer.”

“God, Lu. Don’t say that!”

They both chuckled, finishing up their food quickly before their break was even up. They sat in quiet for a little while, and Jamie resorted to closing his eyes before he felt another pair on him.

“Lu?”

“Yeah?”   


“Why’re ya starin’ at me?”

“...I thought you were going to tell me something else.”

“Like what?”   


“Like why you didn’t show up on Monday and left me all by myself, maybe? Especially after I texted you that I needed to talk to you.”

“I told ya, my stupid brain wouldn’t let me do anything so I called in sick, ‘cause I wasn’t in any mood t’work.”

Lucio frowned, pulling his ponytail out and redoing it, dreads twisting around in his hands as he worked them through elastic. A single dread slipped out and fell in front of his face and he huffed.

“So… was that the day the guy asked you out?”

“Mako. Yeah.”   


“Okay…” Lucio tugged on his ponytail and pouted a bit, looking off to the side. “Not to be rude or anything, but that’s not really something to miss work over. Or ignore my texts.”

Jamie finally opened his eyes and glanced up at Lucio, who was perched on the table, legs swinging idly in the air as he played with his dreads.

“Uhhh… okay? Dunno what ya want me t’say, mate. Sorry?”   


“I just… like, you just never texted me or anything for maybe 3 days and then you just didn’t show up for work. I was kinda… worried. You never answered any of mine. I know we’re not close, but--”   


“Lu, just…  _ please.  _ It’s not that we’re not close, s’just that I’m dumb and my brain was occupied, okay? Nothin’ personal.” Jamie furrowed his brow and stared at his friend, not being able to read his expression or his body language. He didn’t know why Lucio was acting like this all of a sudden. Seemed everyone was acting strange nowadays.

“I didn’t take it personally,” Lucio was clearly frustrated now, “I just expected a  _ text _ or maybe a heads-up that I was going to be working alone yesterday. That’s all.”

Jamie exhaled loudly. So  _ that’s _ what this was all about. “Well, Jesus, Lu. I’m  _ sorry  _ that ya had a bit more work t’do than normal.” It came out a lot harsher than he intended it, but didn’t take it back.

“You misunderstood me,” Lucio said firmly, and Jamie had to sit up at this point, “I was worried about you, Jamie. I don’t care about the work, but I hate being here… y’know, without you.”   


Jamie bristled, not understanding a word. “The hell ya tryin’ t’say? Why’re you mad at  _ me,  _ actin’ like this?”   


“I’m not  _ mad  _ at you, I’m just saying… you never tell me anything! I thought I was your friend!” Lucio’s voice raised an octave, and he stopped yanking at his hair now.   


“What, so I’m  _ obligated _ to text ya every time I can’t show up t’work? Last time I checked, Lu, ya ain’t my boss! Gran is!”   


“Yeah, but I’m your  _ friend!”  _ Lucio shouted, and workers had to peek into the room, confused as to why these two were arguing so loudly all of a sudden.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Jamie was getting redder in the face by the moment. When did they start arguing like this? They never argued, not for stupid little reasons like this. Lucio wasn’t much for anger, always being the mediator in arguments, not part of one. The man was so optimistic and good-natured, it was hard to get him angry anyways, and Jamie couldn’t think of a single time Lucio ever got into any sort of fight. 

Lucio fell silent, hands balled into fists on his lap. They glared at each other, jaws tight, faces hot, sitting still. Jamie was practically breathing fire, feeling hurt that the most positive guy he’s ever met was attacking him for not sending a simple text, Lucio feeling like he was about to explode because his friend just didn’t understand how much he needed him.

“You know what?” Lucio spoke after a few seconds of silence. “Nevermind. I guess I’m not the kind of friend I thought I was. I guess Hana’s better. Hope you have fun on your  _ date.” _

“Lu!” Jamie called out, getting up to follow his friend who stormed through the kitchen and smacked the swinging door open. “The hell’s ya problem?”

They reached the counter again, everyone still sitting placidly and chatting as the two argued as quietly as they could.

“You’re just  _ ignoring  _ me lately, you think I don’t see that?” Lucio whirled around to face Jamie, two seconds away from exploding.

“I am  _ not  _ ignoring you, just ‘cause I didn’t answer your texts. What in the actual hell is ya problem, Lu, ya never act like this!”

“This has happened  _ before  _ and I let it, but now that it’s happening again, I’m not putting up with it. What is  _ your  _ problem, huh? What’d I ever do to you?”

“Nothing!” Jamie hissed, “like I said, I ain’t--”   


_ “I love you!”  _

Jamie let his jaw fall open and his words stumble out into a halt, eyes wide as he stared at his friend right in the eyes. “Huh?”

“Like, as a  _ friend.  _ I love you, I thought you were my best friend, but you and Hana are clearly closer than I am with you, and you won’t even tell me why. It’s not fair!” Lucio pouted, looking like a child with his fists balled up at his sides. 

Jamie gaped a bit, unable to speak. Lucio didn’t let him, anyways.

“Like,” Lu started gesturing wildly now, dreads shaking with every movement, “you always talk to Hana about things that I find out about way later, and you think I don’t care, but I do. I care a lot! I care so much about all of my friends, but it seems you don’t fuckin’ notice. And now, you probably think I’m a sensitive crybaby because you think I’m getting mad at you now about it. Well, I’ll let you know something,  _ Mr. Fawkes,  _ I was pissed at you  _ before _ . But I’m not taking anything sitting down anymore. You treat me like a second-rate friend  _ all the time  _ and I’m so tired of it. I can’t even talk to you about important things. Ever.”

Jamie had to take a step back so that he wasn’t hit by Lucio’s flailing hands, accidentally or otherwise. “Lu… jesus, ya never told me about any of this...”

_ “Yeah,  _ because I thought maybe things would get better, but I guess  _ not.”  _ Lucio spat, dark skin concealing the rush of blood to his face. Jamie could still tell he was pissed anyways.

Jamie gestured vaguely, shrugging helplessly. He never saw Lucio like this, head reeling at the sudden rollercoaster of emotions that seemingly came out of nowhere. He didn’t know what to say. 

“I… I-I’m sorry, Lu, I dunno--”   


Lucio sighed, crossing his arms and turning away, rubbing at his face. He turned back around with a softer expression. “No,  _ I’m _ sorry,” he sounded tired, “I shouldn’t have blown up at you like that. I should’ve told you about this earlier, but I… I guess I really didn’t know how to. I’m overreacting.”

Jamie blinked, incredulous. “Lu, is there somethin’ else goin’ on right now? ‘Cause you’re havin’ mood swings worse than I do.”

Lucio huffed impatiently. “Maybe if you payed attention to anything other than  _ yourself _ , you'd know.”

Jamie couldn’t do this anymore. “Lucio, you are goin’ _ insane  _ right now, what is goin’ on?! I’m so fuckin’ confused!”

“The reason why I wanted you here yesterday is so I could talk to someone who I thought cared. Someone in my family _ died _ over the weekend and I texted you that I needed to talk to you, but you just ignored my messages. Remember those?”

Jamie stood silent, unable to say anything other than “Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh’,” Lu mocked him, planting his fists on his hips and shaking his head so hard, his dreads swung everywhere. “I needed you, and when you didn’t show up anywhere, I thought something bad had happened to  _ you _ too.”

“God, Lu, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know… I’m really a lousy friend…”

“Yeah, you are.” Lucio said harshly, making Jamie flinch a bit. “But you’re  _ my  _ lousy friend, so… I guess I can let this slide. Again. Now I know I need to yank on your ear more because you’re so oblivious to everything. Gonna have to put you on a leash.”

Jamie bit his lip, unsure of what to do now. He hesitantly held his arms open for a hug that Lucio gratefully took. They stood there in each other’s arms, the hug a bit more awkward than usual because of their height difference, but Lucio seemed not to notice. The blonde had no idea Lucio was like this at all, he seemed friendly and jovial enough on a daily basis, but he supposed because Lu always seemed to be in a good mood, that he never even imagined that he could be angry, or sad, or that any disaster could strike him. Lucio was the type of guy that always seemed to have such an effortless life. Jamie felt stupid for making such an assumption. He patted his back and they pulled away, eyes meeting.

“I’m your friend, right?” Lucio spoke solemnly.

“Y-yeah,” Jamie wasn’t good with emotions like this, he could barely read people’s facial expressions. He didn’t know how he would be able to handle his friend now that he knew about this delicate situation.

“Your  _ best _ friend? Like Hana?”

“Yeah, of course!”   


“And you promise you won’t abandon us if your date goes well with that old dude, and you guys start going out?”

Jamie shifted uncomfortably, feeling like he was being interrogated now. “I-I guess!”   


Lucio narrowed his eyes. “You guess?”

“Yes, I meant yes! I won’t abandon ya, I’ll tell both of you guys everything! And you can tell me everything, too.”

“Good, because if you disappear for even just  _ one  _ day, I’m hunting you down. You’re. My. Best. Friend!” Lucio poked a finger against Jamie’s chest to emphasize every word.

Jamie held his hands up and laughed. “God, you’re scarin’ me! Actin’ like a clingy boyfriend!”

“Yeah? Well, maybe I am. Maybe you’ll get to have  _ two  _ boyfriends in the future.”

Jamie laughed, but Lu didn’t, and they stood awkwardly at the counter, no one showing up in front of the registers. No one even seemed to notice their argument, still sitting and eating amiably with friends as some typed at their laptops, others doodling in their booths. Jamie sighed, even more tired from the events that threw him off-balance, seeing Lucio in a new light now. He didn’t know he was being such a bad friend, either, and never expected  _ Lucio  _ to be the one to call him out on it. Never assume the nice ones are always happy-go-lucky is the moral of the story for today.

Lucio was still shooting daggers at Jamie and he had to ask what was up  _ now _ .

“I  _ mean _ it, Jamison Fawkes. You better answer my texts when I need you to, or else I’m showing up wherever you are and dragging you away,”

“Lu, chill out! I get it, I’m terrible, I get it!”   


“Good, because once you slip up, I’m kicking your butt. I’ve been way too good to you for you to be treating me like this.”

Jamie rolled his eyes, leaning down to get his face close to Lucio’s to tease him. “Alright,  _ darlin’ _ , I promise I’ll be th’ best boyfriend a bloke could ever have! I love ya,  _ darlin’,  _ I’ll send ya 500 kissy emojis every mornin’ jus’ ta show ya how much I love ya!”

Lucio snorted as Jamie planted a big, wet kiss on his cheek, both giggling at the blonde’s over-dramaticism. Lucio turned his head, stifling his laughs before it got out of control and he would be snorting loudly enough for the entire cafe to hear, stopping abruptly once he saw who was at the counter waiting in front of Jamie’s usual register. 

Jamie’s giggles dwindled as well, once he saw the expression on Lucio’s face, following his wide eyes up to… 

Mako. Who was waiting. And staring. At the both of them.

Mako. Who saw Jamie give Lucio the biggest kiss ever, who probably thought he was being serious when he heard Jamie tell Lucio he loved him. 

Mako. Who was standing there with the stony expression of a wall, standing so still that Jamie thought he would turn into a statue any minute now. 

Some part of him wished he would. 

Jamie and Lucio looked at each other before quickly jumping into action, Lucio shoving Jamie towards the register, Jamie quickly fixing his hair before he stood attention at the register.

The look Mako gave him made him want to disappear forever. Mako gazed down from his nose at the blonde the way a rich person would look down at a flea-ridden mongrel, who stood meekly by the machine, ready to take his order. Jamie could’ve sworn he saw his upper lip curl. When the hell did he even enter the cafe? He didn’t hear the bell ring, he just looked up when Lucio stopped laughing and there he was, as if materializing out of nowhere. He felt his ears go hot.

“The usual. Long black.” Mako rumbled, and Jamie got to it, exhaustion leaping away from his body as if escaping from the cold glare of the man itself, leaving Jamie to quiver as he dutifully served him.

“U-uhm, yeah, large, right?” Jamie stuttered, fingers trembling, head bowed. 

Mako didn’t answer, didn’t even make a noise to confirm. Just bored holes into Jamie’s head.

Jamie took that as a yes, and asked if that was all he was going to get.

Again, no answer. 

Great. Today was just the shittiest day ever. He got no sleep, ate very little, ended up in class late, got into an argument with the nicest friend he’s ever had and now his crush thinks he’s a whore. Perfect. 

Jamie ripped the order from the machine and handed it to Lucio, who was standing a little ways away, watching everything unfold like one does when watching a horror movie. Lu took it tentatively, giving Jamie the most pitiful of looks before turning back to the espresso machine and grabbing a cup. Jamie stood with him, back facing Mako like that first day when Jamie gave him his number. He bet Mako regretted texting that number now.

He leaned on the counter, closing his eyes, exhaling loudly before biting his lip. Lucio glanced up at him worriedly, filling the cup with hot water before putting in two shots of espresso, as usual. They said nothing as Lucio wrote Mako’s name on the cup as per protocol, resorting to handing the cup over to the man himself. 

Once Mako got his cup and exited the cafe, Lucio walked back to Jamie and took his hand in his. 

“Yeah, looks like that date ain’t happenin’ anymore.” Jamie looked like he was on the verge of tears, pursing his lips.

Lucio sighed. “God, Jamie… I’m so sorry,” he said softly, really meaning it. “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t overreacted and yelled at you, none of this would’ve happened.”

Jamie shook his head, defeated. He didn’t know what to say. It seemed that every time something good happened to him, disaster fell on his head and he was booted right back to square one. Lucio squeezed his hand reassuringly before giving him another hug, burying his face in his chest and embracing him with all his might.

It felt nice, but Jamie just had the life force sapped out of him and was in no mood to return it. He stood there weakly as Lucio squeezed him, eyes staring off into space, the weight of his fuck-up fully settling on his shoulders and crushing the breath out of him. He glanced up at the clock. Only an hour and a half to go before the cafe closed up. Just great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some..... unrequited boombox bein' thrown in there for a bit of conflict. But don't worry, roadrat wins out in the end. Lucio's just gonna have to accept that Jamie's gonna be "property of Roadhog" real soon lmao


	6. Freezing Cold

The minute Mako stepped out of that cafe, he strode past a public trash can on the sidewalk and dumped the coffee, not a sip of it taken at all. There went 5 dollars down the drain. Whatever.

He huffed and zipped up his jacket since the nights were getting chillier and chillier as the weeks went by. Pretty soon, snow season would hit and his shop would be filled with customers who would have a myriad of easily-fixable problems. It would keep him busy and keep his bank account full enough. At least he had  _ that _ going for him.

He walked down to the end of the block, turning and crossing the street to head towards his shop. It would be closing up pretty soon. Just had an hour more to go, and he’d be home free in his warm shower, then in his warm bed with coffee in his hand.  _ Not  _ a long black, of course.

But home was empty and quiet, which would force his thoughts of Jamie to resurface in his mind. He decided against going home after all. Maybe he’d take a ride out on the highways again, just letting the engine of his chopper roar out the sounds of his thoughts. That sounded like a much better idea.

He walked briskly down the cracked pavement of the sidewalk, glancing at every car that drove past, headlights beaming brightly in the dark and nearly blinding him since most streetlamps here didn’t work. This side of the city was very clearly the neglected part, and no one could deny it, but no one did anything about it, either. Malls were built and parks were elevated for brand new condominiums, thus further pushing the poorer areas to the side. Mako would know, he’s lived in both dilapidated apartments and lavish city condos. He’s seen it all.

But now, in his age, he was tired. He’s seen it all and he was tired of it, deciding to give dating a younger guy another try in case his first experience was the outlier. Hell, he was old and he knew it, and he knew that it might’ve caused some problems in relationships before, but in his heart of hearts, he thought maybe giving Jamie a try would teach him something new. Something he  _ hasn’t  _ seen before.

Looks like he thought wrong. Again. 

He approached the chain link fence that bordered the yard surrounding his shop, pushing open the swinging gate that had to be lifted a bit or else it would catch on the asphalt and remain shut. He closed it behind him and walked past the numerous cars and parts surrounding the squat building, fishing around in his jacket pocket for his keys. 

Once he unlocked the door and entered, he nodded a quick hello to his employees and made his way past the half-finished cars to the back, where his office was. He made sure all the garage doors were closed shut before entering and closing the door behind him. There, he sunk into his chair and put his head in his hands, rubbing his temples with his thumb.

He wouldn’t even be so mad at Jamie if the boy had said  _ something.  _ Mako stood there, watching as Jamie loudly proclaimed his love for that shorter guy, watched as he kissed him, and then the blonde had the nerve to say absolutely nothing at all after the fact. He was expecting an apology, an explanation,  _ something.  _ But Jamie just bowed his head and took Mako’s order as if it were a regular old day and he hadn’t just kissed another man in front of him.

Unbelievable.

Mako thought ducking into the cafe to see him before the big date would help him calm down a bit, as he was very nervous about going out to eat with someone who wasn’t an old biking buddy, but got smacked in the face with  _ that. _ The sight of Jamie stooping over to kiss someone who was… admittedly much handsomer than Mako, but he wasn’t ready to accept that. 

_ Why _ was Jamie kissing him? Why? He had just asked him out a couple of days ago, and in those couple of days, it seemed he got bored. There was no reason for the blonde to be macking on anyone else before he even  _ properly met _ Mako, but there he was.

Maybe all of this was a mistake, Mako inwardly groaned. Going after someone who was probably barely half his age was dangerous, and he knew it. Younger guys are feistier, more prone to cheating, just a general headache to deal with, in Mako’s experience. But he never learned. He hadn’t been in a relationship with anyone in years, the last guy breaking up with him for god knows what reason, and resorted to just living by his own grumpy self. He should’ve stuck to that plan.

Several minutes went by and Mako just sat in his chair by his shut-off computer, staring at his reflection on the shiny surface of the screen, rubbing at his itchy stubble and sighing. Maybe Jamie had changed his mind, or something. Maybe he was in the middle of deciding and made up his mind just as he walked into the cafe. Maybe he was preparing to send him a “sorry, can’t make it to the date on Sunday” text, explaining how he made up his mind to cancel because he suddenly realized how old Mako was and was grossed out by it. 

Mako rubbed his face in both hands again, angry at Jamie, but mostly himself. He knew playing along with Jamie’s crush was a bad idea, but when he fell for him in the process, that’s when he knew he really fucked up. It wasn’t like him to just fall in love with someone so young… so sweet and genuine… so adorable…

_ Stop it,  _ Mako snapped at himself, fully realizing how pathetic he was. It was like he was a college kid himself, now. 

But really, that was what the entire appeal of Jamie was in the first place. The way Jamie let those amber eyes fall on every inch of his body, the way his hands shook nervously as he rung Mako up, the barely passable nonchalance in his texts, his forwardness. As much as he hated to admit it, Jamie reminded him a lot of himself when he was younger, and watching the blonde fumble around with the feelings he had for the old man made Mako’s heart melt into a puddle. He was inadvertently falling in love with his past self, and didn’t know what to do.

Well, maybe Jamie  _ was _ showing something he hadn’t seen before, but he didn’t really like it.

He sighed as he booted up his computer, reminded for the umpteenth time to set aside some money for an upgrade as the fans whirred to life noisily, the machine groaning and clicking as it woke up, like an old man protesting against the sudden end of his slumber. Mako could relate.

He punched in the password and dug his phone out of his pocket, setting it aside, checking to see --with much anticipation-- if Jamie had even texted him anything. Nothing. He wasn’t surprised, but couldn’t ignore the slight pang of disappointment that hit him square in the chest. He turned his attention back to the computer as the programs slowly loaded in, leaving him waiting for a few minutes for the wifi to find its way back into the machine and connect. 

He sat staring at the screen once more, patient as always, really wishing he could kill time like this until the shop closed up, not wanting to file all the paperwork and go through all the employee’s time cards. It was menial labor he’d rather not do, wanting to be out there with the other mechanics, rolling his sleeves up and wiping oil off of his hands. But as the owner of the shop, it was a duty to pay those you employed. He had to remind himself of this every time pay day came rolling around. 

About half an hour later, he was halfway through checking over the time cards when a loud knock on his door jolted him violently from his work-induced trance. He minimized the window and got up, opening the door all the way in case there was an emergency and he needed to rush out as soon as possible.

It was just an employee of his, tilting their cap up from their forehead to be able to look Mako in the face, who towered way above him. There didn’t seem to be an emergency, judging by their nonchalant stance.

“Hey, boss… uh, got a kid ‘round the front askin’ for ya.”

“Kid?” Mako gaped down at them, having to bend over slightly in order not to hit his head on the top of the door frame.

“Yeah, tall as hell, like you. Blonde. Freckles. The guy’s freezing, seems he just ran out from wherever he lived without a jacket and hurried as fast as he could to get ‘ere.”

Mako pushed them away suddenly and walked on out towards the front exit, not believing it was the same tall, blonde kid who he thought it was. Was it?

The door was swung open and indeed there was Jamie, clutching his arms, trembling and teeth chattering from the cold. His breath puffed out in front of him as he spoke. 

“H-h-hi… M-Mako.” He stuttered, panting hard, and Mako just stared at the trembling boy in disbelief before stepping to the side and ushering him in. He closed the door behind him.

“What’re you doing here?”

Jamie exhaled as he was let into the warmth, rubbing his hands together and biting his freezing lips. “Uhmm… y-you saw me back there…” he mumbled, lips numb and making it hard for him to speak properly, “I jus’ wanted ta… come ‘ere an’ a-a-apologize…”

Without thinking, Mako reached over and cupped both of Jamie’s freezing hands in his big ones, rubbing each finger carefully between his thumb and index fingers. Jamie stared up, wide-eyed, but said nothing as Mako busied himself warming him up.

“You’re crazy for coming all the way over here in the cold without at least a jacket, you know,” he rumbled disapprovingly, fussing over the blonde before stepping back and giving him a once-over.

Jamie was still dressed in the outfit he wore to work when Mako saw him, minus the apron. All he had on to protect him from the cold was a relatively thin t-shirt, a pair of jeans and his combat boot. His ears, cheeks and nose were a bright pink, lips trembling as well as the rest of him. Mako felt a pang of guilt that Jamie felt so obliged to run on out of his job to his, but there really was no reason to not throw on a jacket before making a mad dash over to the shop.

Jamie shook his head. “I-I needed ta rush, y’know, ‘cause,” he swallowed hard, “b-boss doesn’t know I’m gone. Gotta make it quick, gotta apologize… please. J-jus’ lemme apologize an’ explain ‘fore I get f-fired!”  
Mako looked around at the employees who abandoned their duties for a bit to watch the scene unfolding before them. He waved them away impatiently and they quickly went back to their business.

“Okay, but you have to come back with me to my office. It’s warmer there, not here by the door. Come on.”

Together, they walked past the cars and mechanics working on them, back to Mako’s tiny little office in the back. Jamie was offered the only seat in there before Mako opened the door, and as they both entered, Mako started taking off his own jacket to drape over the shoulders of the blonde.

“Oh… really, ya d-don’t need ta do that… I’m… y’know, gettin’ warmer now.” Jamie chuckled nervously, but gripped the fabric of the jacket in his hand anyways, rubbing at his dripping nose. Mako also offered him a box of tissues. Jamie gladly obliged as he sat down. 

“Listen,” Jamie started, once he tossed a tissue away in the trash can, “I know what ya saw made ya real mad, and I’m really, really sorry for it. It was jus’... me bein’ overdramatic as usual. That guy I was kissin’ was my friend, and nothin’ more, I swear it! We were arguin’ but then we made up an’ I was teasin’ him. I don’t like him or anythin, we ain’t--”

Mako held a hand up, leaning back on his desk. “Your friend? You tell your  _ friends _ that you’re going to be the best boyfriend they ever had?”

Jamie flinched, rubbing at his thigh self-consciously. “It was a joke, I was teasin’, like I said! I don’t like him, I just…” he looked up with the most pitiful expression Mako’s ever seen. “I-I like  _ you,  _ not him.”

They sat in silence for a few seconds and Jamie bowed his head, a litany of “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” softly escaping his lips after a while. He didn’t meet Mako’s eyes and probably wasn’t going to, so Mako resorted to taking a knee in front of the chair, placing a huge hand on Jamie’s thigh.

“Jamie…” Mako spoke softly but firmly, making Jamie’s eyes land on his and couldn’t look away. “You might have been joking around with your friend, but doing things like that while you’re involved with me like this… won’t fly by with me. I know we’re not  _ together _ , but when I invite you out to eat, I don’t expect any extra baggage like that.”

Jamie exploded into a jittery, fidgety mess, the hand on his thigh the only thing grounding him as he played with the zipper of Mako’s jacket and carded his fingers through his hair, eyes darting everywhere. “I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, there really ain’t any baggage. I promise! I-I jus’, I dunno, I was bein’ an idiot, an’ you’re right, I shouldn’t have… I really shouldn’t have done none of that, I’m really sorry, I promise it won’t happen again, y’know?” He was rambling now, words tumbling out of his mouth at unprecedented speeds, and Mako was immediately overwhelmed.

He had to interrupt him. “Jamie. Jamie, listen. Stop. I… okay, I know--”   


“I’m sorry,” Jamie continued, squeezing his eyes shut, “I’m such an idiot, an’ I promise I won’t do somethin’ like that again, okay? I’m really--”

“Jamie--”

“Just please don’t cancel the date on Sunday, okay? I really like ya!”

Mako shut his mouth and they were both silent for a while, Jamie slowly opening his eyes in fear of what he might see, but eventually landing his eyes on Mako’s face again to try and study his expression.

“Jamie,” Mako spoke softly again, gentler this time. He could really tell Jamie was genuinely sorry, and had to find a way to calm him. “Okay... okay. It’s fine, alright?”

“No it’s not,” Jamie moaned, burying his face in his hands, “I’m a complete moron, and I made ya mad ‘fore we could even get ta know each other!”

Mako placed a hand on Jamie’s, slowly lowering it from the blonde’s miserable visage, peering into his fiery eyes. They seemed to glow even when their owner was down in the dumps. Mako couldn’t look away. 

“I accept your apology, okay? I understand now. You were just messing around with a friend. It’s okay. I’m not mad anymore.” It was the truth. Mako’s heart had been softened enough by the boy who would run nearly two blocks out in the freezing cold, putting his job on the line just to apologize. It definitely struck a chord with him.

“Are ya sure?” Jamie sniffled and Mako didn’t even know if it was because he was still cold or was about to cry. If Jamie started crying now, he didn’t know what he would do.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m really sure. I know a genuine apology when I see it, and I can tell you’re actually sorry. I forgive you.”

“You’re too nice t’me,” Jamie shook his head, not taking his eyes from Mako’s.

Mako swallowed and nodded, wondering if this was the right thing to do. “I won’t cancel the date on Sunday, but you have to promise not to do something like that again. Alright?” He grinned.

Jamie smiled as well, laughing a bit before sniffling again and leaning forward to wrap his arms around Mako’s neck. Mako hesitantly returned the hug, patting Jamie on the back softly as they embraced. They sat like that for a while, with Jamie’s face buried in Mako’s neck and Mako awkwardly kneeling in between his legs. All of his dark thoughts about the blonde quickly washed away, and the tenderness he felt for him returned tenfold. So he was wrong about Jamie, after all. For once, he was glad he was wrong.

They pulled away and Mako couldn’t help but brush a thumb on Jamie’s cheek affectionately, earning him another smile.

“I’m sorry… about… everything else, too. Like, y’know…” Jamie shrugged and blushed.

“Everything else?” Mako inquired.

“Like… jus’ bein’ a mess in general. I bet I looked like an idiot this morning. I bet I look like an idiot  _ all _ the time.”

Mako just found all of this to be absolutely adorable. He smiled, lifting Jamie’s chin up with a finger. “Hey, don’t be like that. You’re way too harsh on yourself. Chin up, you’re not as bad as you think you are.”

Jamie stared deep into Mako’s eyes, first at the blue one, then at the dark brown one, subconsciously leaning forward slowly until their lips brushed together and he jumped, tittering nervously. 

“S-sorry. Ya just too nice, really. Uhm… I-I gotta head back, or else I’m losin’ my job, ya know?”  
Mako didn’t bat an eye, just raised his hand again to cup Jamie’s chin in his hand as he leaned forward and their lips met. Jamie made a small surprised sound, eyes wide as his lips were developed in warmth, but melted into it as quickly as it started.

_ He was kissing Mako!! _

He was giddy with excitement, overcome with lust, just  _ bursting  _ with joy at having his affections returned by his crush, being able to kiss him like this. It wasn’t like his fantasies at all, but this was good enough, Mako’s soft lips sucking on his gently, the tips of their tongues poking at each other shyly, eyes closed as they shared their first kiss. Maybe they would be able to have their raunchy parking-lot-kisses later on, when they were well into their relationship.

They pulled away and Jamie gasped softly, eyelids fluttering open. They stared at each other for a little bit before chuckling nervously, leaning back. Mako stood up and helped Jamie to his feet, the cold of the metal prosthetic hand biting into his skin. He raised a brow at it but didn’t ask further, leaving it as a topic they would have to bring up on Sunday.

“You alright?” Mako asked.

“Yeah… m’fine. Could ask you the same, really.”

“Yeah, I’m alright. I’m not as mad at you anymore,” he grinned, and let go of Jamie’s hand. 

“God, that’s good to hear. I think I woulda just buried myself in a hole if ya still were.” Jamie grinned back, rubbing at the back of his neck with his left hand, lifting off the jacket from his shoulders.

He started to hand it back to Mako, but the man refused. 

“I’ll walk you back. Put it on so you don’t turn into a popsicle.”

“Ya sure?”

“Yeah, come on.”

Jamie did as he was told and slipped his arms in, the jacket so big that it fell almost down to his knees, the sleeves dropping well past his fingertips. He giggled quietly as he rolled them up a bit to get at the zipper, following Mako out of the office.

They headed back to the front door, ignoring the eyes of the other curious employees, and Mako ducked under the doorway after letting Jamie out, turning to lock the door as he shivered against the cold night wind. They started walking towards the chain link fence and Mako took it upon himself to open the gate and let Jamie go first.

“So,” Mako started as he closed the gate behind them, “how did you even know I worked here? There’re plenty of mechanic’s shops around.”

Jamie shrugged and looped his arm around Mako’s, walking close to him for warmth. “I, uh… guess I saw ya around the buildin’ once before an’ I put two n’ two together when ya told me you were a mechanic.”

“Huh,” Mako nodded, racking his brain for any memory of the blonde being anywhere near the building while he was working. He couldn’t think of one, but took his word anyways. 

“Listen, I’m really sorry ya gotta head on out of your job ta walk me to mine. Really, I coulda just went on my own.”

“Now, what kind of gentlemen would I be if I let you leave on your own, though?”

Jamie laughed, a light and high-pitched giggle that Mako really enjoyed. “Ya too nice. If I were you, I’d’ve been mad as hell. Ya got a lot of grace t’be so patient with me.”

“Hey, everyone fucks up every once in a while,” Mao offered the blonde a lopsided grin. “Can’t say I wasn’t like you at one point in my life.”

“What, a big pathetic mess? Jamie started to laugh, but caught himself. “Er. I mean, y’know…”

“I know.” Mako gave Jamie’s arm a squeeze as they walked on the cracked concrete, under broken streetlamps and towering telephone poles. The night was cold, but clear, and aside from the occasional cloud or two, one could spot a cluster of stars in the black sky. This part of the city was relatively quiet on cold nights, too. No one but Mako and Jamie were walking towards the downtown area arm in arm. Jamie felt like they were already dating.

They got closer to the cafe and Jamie almost felt disappointed at having to say goodbye to his crush, one who graciously offered him his jacket and a walk home after watching him fuck up royally. Granted, Jamie did his best to apologize and it worked, but he was grateful for Mako’s mercy nonetheless.

They neared the front entrance of the cafe, cars whizzing by on the street, lights from storefronts and lamps bright on the much smoother pavement. Jamie stopped, tugging on Mako’s arm.

“Hm?” Mako raised a brow, now feeling the cold of the night settling into his bones, jaw clenching in an attempt to stop his teeth from chattering. 

“Thanks for everything, I really… appreciate your kindness,” Jamie bowed his head humbly and started to unzip the jacket.

“Something tells me you don’t want me to go,” 

“No, I really don’t. Can ya at least tell me when you’re modeling for the class next? I wanna see ya again.”

Mako chuckled, taking the jacket that Jamie slipped off of him. “Probably not again this week, but I’ll let you know if things change. I want to see you, too. Before Sunday, I mean. We’ll figure something out.”

“C-can I…” Jamie looked visibly nervous.

“Yes?”

“Can I… can I call ya? Later tonight?” Jamie didn’t meet Mako’s eyes.

Mako put on his jacket, zipping it up to his chin and exhaling. “Sure. That’s fine.”

“Ya don’t think that’s too… much?” Jamie toed the concrete with his combat boot shyly.

“Too much? No. Not at all.”

“I mean, we’re not really datin’ yet or anything, but…”

“Jamie,” Mako smiled and took Jamie’s face in both hands leaning forward. “It’s okay. I won’t think you’re clingy or anything. Call me after 10, when I get back home. Okay?”   


Jamie nodded and stood on his tiptoes, their lips pressing against each other’s once more, indulging in a quick goodbye kiss before pulling away and heading the opposite way. His nose was already pink from the cold, but he stood by the cafe entrance anyways, waving goodbye. Mako waved back and all that Jamie saw as he lumbered away was his huge back and bobbing silver ponytail. Jamie wanted to tug on that ponytail so badly, and he didn’t even know why. That would be a mission of his.

He sighed and finally turned away, pushing the door to the cafe open and shivering gratefully when the warmth enveloped his cold body. Lucio was at the counter, elbows propped, chin in hands, smiling smugly as his friend made his way around to the back. He straightened up and leaned back, facing Jamie.

“Soooo, how’d it gooooo?” Lucio sang, dancing around Jamie as he picked his apron back up from the floor and tied it on. Both he and Jamie knew damn well how it went based on the kiss they shared right in front of the cafe windows, but Lu always loved sharing a victory. 

“I hate you because you always know what t’do, but I also love ya for that.”

Lucio laughed, leaning in for a hug, but was quickly pushed away.

“Nuh-uh,” Jamie wagged a finger in his face, “not today. He was real mad that I was bein’ all playful with ya, but he forgave me. None of that anymore.”

Lucio’s face immediately darkened. “Excuse me? I’m not allowed to hug my friend anymore?”

“Well, he’s… he told me he doesn’t really like seein’ that… with me.”

“Seeing what?”

“Y’know,” Jamie gestured vaguely. “Huggin’ an’ kissin’ an’ stuff like that.”

“But you told him we’re just friends, right?”

“Yeah,” Jamie inhaled nervously. “But y’know… still doesn’t like it much.”

Lucio shook his head. “This better not get in the way of our friendship, Jamie. Remember what I told you?”

“Lu, christ, I know! Don’t worry, we don’t need to hug to be friends, I’ll still text ya and all that.”

“But I need affection,” Lucio groaned dramatically, throwing his arms around Jamie’s torso. “Or else I’ll  _ die.” _

“For fuck’s sake, get off! What if he walks in ‘ere again?”Jamie laughed, trying to pry Lucio off of him. The smaller man was way stronger than he looked.

“Then you forget about him, because if he gets jealous that easily, he’s not worth it.”

“Oh, Lu,” Jamie gave up and threw his hands up as he was being squeezed by his friend. He loved Lucio as well, but this was a bit much. Maybe he’ll return to his normal self, but right now, Jamie just had to accept the fact that he was going to be like this for a little while.

He chuckled as he looked down on Lucio’s head against his chest, patting his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured after all the crap that happened last chapter, you guys needed a sweet one for the weekend. And, hey, a chapter from Mako's point of view... kinda! Happy St. Pat's Day, everyone!


	7. Impromptu Sleepover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the weird gap in between this chapter and the last one. I just got back from break after chapter 6 was posted and classes have been kicking my ass since lmao   
> Hope you guys enjoy this kind of... filler-y chapter. Mako and Jamie's official date is comin' up sooooon!!

“Hey, man, you think I could hang out at your place for a bit after?”

Jamie, Lucio and the others were finally closing up the cafe, waving goodbye to and thanking the last cluster of customers that were heading out, wiping down the tables and putting up the chairs on them. Jamie wiped a bead of sweat from his brow as he hoisted the last chair up onto a table, knowing all the drastic temperature changes his body was going through today would absolutely wreck his immune system. Oh well, if he was sick, he could miss a few classes.

He turned to look back at Lucio, who was busy sweeping the floor, back facing him.

“My place? Why?”   


“‘Cause… I just wanna talk. I told you before, I needed to talk to you about… y’know,”

“Oh,” Jamie rubbed his neck, suddenly remembering Lucio’s situation. “Right.”

“Besides, I lost my dorm key and my roommate doesn’t come back until like 11, so…”

Jamie sighed. “I guess.”

Lucio then turned to face his friend, planting a fist on his hip. “Hey, I listened to you today, and I even helped you out so this is the least you could do!”

Jamie held his hands up. “Hey, not sayin’ I don’t want to. Geez, Lu, you’re so  _ touchy  _ today!”

Lucio gave him The Look before rolling his eyes and returning back to his chore. Jamie shoved his hands in his pockets as he went to the back to see what else he could help with before grabbing his stuff and heading out. Part of him just wanted to go back to his dorm, finally be by himself, and catch up on the sleep he so badly needed. But a friend needed him, so he supposed he could forego his plan to just collapse on his bed. Just this once.

Everything was finally packed up and put away, refrigerated, wiped down, and cleaned up by 10:20PM, and Jamie was ecstatic to finally be able to slip on his jacket and head out. The other employees left a little early, and the only two people in the cafe were Jamie and Lucio. The last one called a goodbye and headed out, leaving the two to shut off the lights and lock up for the night. 

Jamie was already waiting by the front door, tapping his left foot impatiently as Lucio got his stuff from the back and shut off all the lights. Jamie jingled his keys impatiently as he finally saw Lucio make his way from around the back of the counter.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, hurry it up!” He called. “You know I hate waitin’, Lu.”

“The more you try and rush me, the slower I’m gonna put my jacket on just to spite you,” Lucio huffed, slipping his jacket over his shoulders and zipping it up.

They finally exited, the cheery bell ringing as if to call out its own goodbye to the boys, and Jamie was so excited to finally be out of there, he could barely get the key into the lock. After a few seconds of hurried fumbling, the cafe was locked up for the night and Jamie let out a loud hoot, leaping into the air.

Lucio was startled, taking a step back. “What the hell, man! You scared me! You were dead most of the day, and now you’re jumping for joy? Okay.”

_ “‘Cause,”  _ Jamie started, practically skipping down the sidewalk as they walked towards the college campus, “I finally get to be in my warm bed, in my warm room, an’ my roommate probably ain’t there, and I finally  _ get to sleeeep!”  _ He shouted, and Lucio had to hush him.

“Shut up, man! People are gonna call the cops on us!” He couldn’t hold back the laugh that shook his shoulders. Jamie looked like a tall child, skipping and hopping on the sidewalk, eyes bright and cheeks pink from the cold or the exertion, swinging his arms. 

“Aw, what for? Lu, I’ll race ya!”   


“Jamie, no--”

But it was too late. The blonde shot off, prosthetic clanking onto the pavement loudly with every step, wind tossing his hair every which way, slowing down only once he reached the end of the block and threw a glance back over his shoulder.

Once Lucio casually made his way over and finally reached him, he tapped the ground with his foot impatiently once more. 

“Hey, c’mon whatsa matter? I thought ya ran track, ya coulda beat me.”

Lucio shook his head, taking his headphones out from the depths of his jacket pocket and shoving them into his ears. “Nuh uh, man. Not in this cold, right after work. I’m exhausted.”

“Yeah, so am I!”

They argued playfully back and forth as they crossed the street, making their way closer to the campus before crossing the street once more and climbing the stairs that led to the dorm complex’s lobby. They entered, Jamie showed the security guard his school ID, and they waited for the elevator to bring them up to Jamie’s floor.

“So, uh…” Jamie started awkwardly, both panting slightly from the cold. “So about the person who died…”

“We’ll talk when we get to your room.” Lucio said briskly, and stepped forward once the doors slid open. 

The elevator ride was silent and a bit awkward, and the exhaustion caught up to both of them in the calm warmth of the building. Jamie drooped a bit, yawning as he unzipped his jacket and sniffed. Lucio leaned his head on the side of the elevator, eyes watering from sleepiness. They stepped out when they reached their floor and quickly made their way down the hall to Jamie’s dorm, where he unlocked the door. They immediately entered Jamie’s room, which was thankfully empty.

Jamie shucked his jacket and threw it on the floor, flopping onto his bed without a thought. 

“Hey, Lu, you’re gonna have ta talk pretty quick, ‘cause I’m fuckin’  _ knackered.” _

“Knackered?” Lu repeated, taking his jacket off after dropping his bag next to Jamie’s bed and climbing into it with him. As a student from another country, he was still learning about local slang. 

“Yeah, tired.” Jamie opened an eye as Lucio settled comfortably next to him. “Uhhh, whaddya doin’?”

“I’m tired, I’m gonna talk to you like this,” Lucio sighed as he shoved his cold hands under Jamie’s pillow and shifted closer to him. They were laying side-by-side now, Jamie on his stomach and Lucio on his side, faces centimeters away from each other, warm breaths puffing against cold skin.

“O… kay,” Jamie furrowed his brows, uncomfortable with having someone so close to him like this (aside from Mako, of course).

“So… it was my grandma who died in the weekend.” Lucio started sadly, closing his eyes as he sunk further into Jamie’s pillow.

“Aw, shit,” Jamie lamented sympathetically.

“Yeah,” Lucio shrugged, “she was… me and her were pretty close. So. Y’know. But she was pretty sick for months so I guess we all saw it coming. Still… like, I dunno what we’re gonna do, because the whole family is going to have to pitch in for money for the funeral  _ and  _ for my college tuition, which is going to be… sucky.” He sighed deeply again.

“Fuck, man… that’s… I’m really sorry.” 

“Yeah. I dunno, maybe I might have to drop out. I was thinking of doing it anyways, since I don’t really like film, but…” Lucio’s voice was starting to trail off, and he had to rub his face on the pillow in order to keep himself awake, “but uh, I dunno if I’ll be able to see you guys after I do.”

“That’s okay, we can text an’ stuff, y’know?”

Lucio opened his eyes just to glare at Jamie. “Yeah  _ right.  _ If you barely answer mine now, you obviously won’t do it after I move out of the city and quit my job at the cafe.”

Jamie cringed. “Hey, come on, I already told ya, Lu! I promise I won’t be such a crappy friend anymore, okay?”

“You better not,” Lucio mumbled, eyelids falling shut once more. 

They lay there together in silence for a few seconds before starting to talk again, about Lucio’s grandmother, what she was like, if Jamie’s date on Sunday was saved. Then they talked, mostly mumbling out of exhaustion, about other things. Like Lucio’s music, what Mako was like and how he accepted Jamie’s apology. 

“He kissed me, Lu, and looked at me like I was a million bucks,” Jamie sighed dreamily.

“Seriously?” Lucio giggled. “I mean, I saw the kiss in front of the cafe, but that one was quick.”

“Nuh uh, he kissed me before that. We had  _ two _ kisses, Lu.”

“Woooow, you’re a real heartthrob, huh.”

They giggled together in bed, unmoving, just lying side-by-side, legs entangled as they gossiped about Mako like two teenage schoolgirls on a Friday night sleepover, sleepiness softening their senses and making them both tranquil.

They talked some more before Jamie brought up a topic that had been gnawing at him for a while, even through the dulling cloud of sleep deprivation.

“Lu, ya actin’ real weird today. Like, all clingy an’ touchy an’ stuff. Ya sure it’s jus’ ‘cause your grandma died?”

Lucio was silent for a long while, and Jamie was afraid he fell asleep before he finally spoke up. “Uh, sorry. I guess I really am acting weird today, huh.”

Jamie nodded.

“Well,” Lu mumbled, face half-buried in Jamie’s pillow now, “yeah. Basically. I haven’t had a shoulder to cry on, so I’m gonna be stuck to you and Hana for the rest of the week. Maybe a little bit after the funeral.”

“We should go. It’d be th’ right thing t’do,”

“That’d be nice,” Lucio exhaled softly.

They both laid in silence for a little while longer, falling deeper into sleep, half-unconscious by 11PM.

Jamie had half the mind to rouse himself up and shake Lucio out of his slumber, tell him that he had morning class tomorrow, that they shouldn’t be sharing a bed like this on a Tuesday. Jamie had class at noon the next day, so he was fine, but Lucio would be missing a class, which he was sure his friend wouldn’t be too happy about. 

But it was too late. They were still fully-clothed in jeans and shoes, sunken together in the sheets and pillows on Jamie’s bed, light still on as they fell deep into slumber, the physical and emotional exhaustion pulling them right under. Jamie couldn’t even fight the eventual threat of unconsciousness, slipping into a deep sleep before he could even make the decision of whether or not he should make sure Lu got to his dorm safely, feeling like he forgot about something else, but not able to remember. They breathed softly, then started to snore softly, nothing but the sound of the cold winds against the glass of the room as they laid in the bed snuggled together, bodies warming each other up. 

Inside of Jamie’s jacket pocket on the floor, his phone buzzed. Then it buzzed again.

* * *

 

It was around 4:30AM when Jamie was roused out of his sleep by his roommate, loudly entering the room at the most ungodly of hours, as usual.

Jamie squinted and blinked at the light in the room that seared his eyes, rubbing at them before registering that there was someone in bed with him, and that someone… was Lucio.

The roommate dumped his bag on the bed and turned around to chuckle.

“Jeez, coulda put a sock on the doorknob,” he grinned, and Jamie stared stupidly at him before realizing what he meant. 

“Ah, shit.” Why did his roommate always have to catch him like this? He was sure he looked a complete and utter mess every time he saw him nowadays, and he pouted a bit before sitting up and rubbing his face, yawning. “What time is it?” He croaked.

“Uh, like 4:30.”

“In the afternoon?!” Jamie’s eyes went wide.

“No,” the roommate laughed, “in the morning. I thought you were awake because I saw the light on, so I figured it was cool to come in. Before I saw you and… that guy sleeping. Sorry if I woke you up.”

Jamie glanced down at Lucio blearily, the man still sleeping soundly on his side, sweater, jeans and sneakers still on, dreads laying haphazardly every which way on his pillow, lips slightly parted. He stared for a bit, hating that he had to shake Lucio out of such a peaceful slumber, but he had to  _ go. _ He carefully climbed out of his bed, dropping down onto the floor where his bag and jacket still laid. He fished his phone out of his pocket and checked for any texts or notifications.

There were two texts and a phone call from Mako and Jamie nearly jumped out of his skin, promptly sitting on the floor and rubbing his leg where the prosthetic irritated it from being worn too long. 

**So when’s that phone call coming in? 11:13PM**

**_Missed call from ‘Mako’ 11:20PM_ **

**Okay, well. Maybe you’re sleeping now. Goodnight. 11:50PM**

It took every bit of strength in Jamie to not just collapse on the floor at that moment. Just when things were patched up, he always just had to go and fuck things up. Of course, this wasn’t a big fuck-up like he did in the cafe, but it was certainly a let-down. He immediately got to texting, even if Mako wouldn’t see it right away.

_ Fuck, sorry! Yea I feel asleep, didnt get much the night before. 4:33AM _

Was that enough? Probably not. He sent another “sorry” just in case and buried his head in his arms as he brought his knees up to his face.

The roommate grabbed a towel and headed to the bathroom, leaving Lucio and Jamie by themselves in the room once more. Jamie got up slowly, aching to yank his prosthetics off, but he had a job to do, and that was to get Lucio back to his place.

He bent over his sleeping friend and shook his shoulder gently at first, whispering his name. When that didn’t work, he raised his voice and shook him harder.

“Mmmnph…” Lucio squeezed his eyes shut and he stirred, batting Jamie’s hand away.

“Lucio, c’mon, it’s 4:30 and ya gotta get your arse up for class in about 4 hours. Go home! You’re not supposed to be here!”

Slowly but surely, Lucio started to come back to life, opening his eyes and blinking them before shifting to lie on his back and look up at Jamie. He rubbed his eyes and stretched, groaning. 

“Why’d you wake me up?” Lucio complained, voice laden with sleep.   


“‘Cause ya gotta go home. Ya got class tomorrow. Whoops, I mean _ today.” _

“Ugh, whatever. I can miss one class, it’s no big deal.” He proceeded to sit up and yank his shoes off, throwing them on the ground.

“Whoa whoa whoawhoa _whoawhoa,_ whaddya doin’?”

“I’m… taking off my shoes?”

“Why? I told ya to get on outta here!”

Lucio frowned. “I can’t stay here? We fit fine on the bed, Jamie, come on.”

That was a lie. Jamie hated sharing such a small bed, and immediately started to argue, but it was 4 in the morning and all he wanted to do was  _ sleep.  _ So he finally just sighed and sat on the bed, removing his prosthetics and yanking his shirt off. Lucio smiled triumphantly as he started to pull his sweater and shirt off, too, lying back comfortably on the bed. Jamie grumbled loudly as he climbed back in, making sure to jostle Lucio around out of spite as he did so, pulling the blankets over their heads and kicking him.

“Ow!” Lucio cried out from somewhere under the blankets, elbowing Jamie in frustration.

“Accident, mate,” Jamie grunted.

“No it wasn’t. Leave me alone, and go to sleep.”

“Could say the same to you, ya wanker!” Jamie tried to toss a wad of blankets at Lucio’s face, but was stopped and the wad was shoved back into his. They giggled as they play-fought for a little while, finally settling against each other under the blankets and panting.

After a bit, Lucio turned from lying on his back to his side again, draping an arm over Jamie’s torso and sinking deeper into the pile of blankets, nuzzling his nose against his chest as he tried to go back to sleep. Their legs were entangled again, making Jamie break out in sweat. He felt dirty doing this, even if Lucio was just doing this because he was grieving over his grandmother, and all of this was purely platonic. The text messages he got from Mako burned in his mind as he felt lucio wiggling up closer so that their bare torsos pressed up together, skin-on-skin, his hand tracing lightly up and down his side.

“Lu, what in the hell’re ya doin’? He mumbled, looking down to burn holes on the top of Lucio’s head.

“Nothing,” he said casually, looking up as innocently as he could.

“Quit doin’ that, ya makin’ me nervous.”

“Why?” Lucio chuckled.

“Lu, I’m goin’ on a date in a few days. With another guy. I dunno why you’re actin’ as if  _ we’re  _ datin’ all of a sudden. Back up a little.”

Lucio pouted, pushing himself on his elbow so he could turn around and have his back to Jamie. “I can’t cuddle with a friend? Platonic cuddling? Jesus,” he breathed, settling under the mound of blankets once more.

“Oh yeah, sure,” Jamie sneered sarcastically, “m’sure you’d love ta give me a  _ platonic _ handjob and  _ platonically  _ make out with me, too, right?”

Lucio threw a glare over his shoulder but turned back, snorting. They laid in silence once again, just listening to the rushing water from the shower that Jamie’s roommate was having just then, burying their faces in the covers to shield their eyes from the bedroom light.

“You’re being very rude,” Lucio muttered after a while, shifting slightly under the covers.

“An’ you’re bein’ all touchy-feely all of a sudden. This really ain’t a good time,” Jamie muttered back, eyes firmly shut.

“Yeah,” Lucio sighed, “this really  _ isn’t _ a good time.”

Jamie had no idea what that meant, but his eyes were burning from the lack of sleep he was getting and his brain was still a bit foggy, so he laid in silence once more, trying his hardest to go back to sleep after being so rudely awoken. If Lucio didn’t want to get up for class tomorrow morning, then so be it. It’s not like he was his dad or anything. He wasn’t going to lecture him or force him to do anything.

He just wished Lucio would’ve picked a better time to have an impromptu sleepover, because this week just  _ wasn’t  _ his week, even though it was only Tuesday. He focused on the sound of his breathing and tried not to suffocate under the covers, so close to Lucio that their body heat was starting to become a bit much. He had half the mind to just put his foot down and kick Lucio right out of his dorm when he finally felt the weight of sleep settle on his body, and then thought better of it. 

They both fell asleep before the roommate could finish his shower, the boy stepping in tentatively after a few more minutes and chuckling at the sight of the other two buried under a mound of blankets before drying his hair off with his towel and shutting the light off. 


End file.
